Palo Alto, Calif.-based Coulomb Technologies recently announced the installation of its first networked charging station for electric vehicles (EVs) in San Jose, Calif., from its $37-million ChargePoint America program. ChargePoint America will offer hundreds of free stations for public and home charging to individuals and businesses throughout the Bay Area for use by individual vehicle owners and by fleets. Coulomb is working with Ford, Chevrolet, and smart USA, all of whom have announced plans to introduce EVs in the Bay Area in the coming months. The first two ChargePoint America stations are now installed at the McEnery Convention Center Parking Center.
"The installation of San Jose's first ChargePoint America station is an important step forward in our efforts to make the Bay Area the EV capital of America," says Mayor Chuck Reed. "Our partnership with Coulomb Technologies is the perfect example of how Silicon Valley can lead the world in clean tech innovation and create new green jobs in our community."
"Coulomb's first customer was the City of San Jose, and we’re pleased to be back, both to welcome the EV transformation to Silicon Valley and also to bring jobs to install and maintain electric vehicle infrastructure," says Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies. "Thanks to our ChargePoint America program, San Jose will be one of the first cities in the nation to enable its residents to buy vehicles that don’t pollute and don’t depend on oil."
Coulomb's ChargePoint America program will provide nearly 5,000 charging stations to program participants in nine regions in the United States: Austin, Texas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, Bellevue/Redmond, Wash., and Washington D.C., and is a strategic partnership between Coulomb and three leading automobile makers: Ford, Chevrolet, and Smart USA. Coulomb currently has the largest established base of networked charging stations worldwide with more than 700 units shipped to more than 130 customers. Installation of the ChargePoint charging stations is underway now in all nine regions.
ChargePoint America will offer both public and home charging stations to individuals and businesses. Businesses in and around the Bay Area interested in receiving free public charging stations should visit the ChargePoint America website to sign up by completing the application form. Individuals interested in purchasing an EV should sign up to receive more information about qualifying to receive a home charging station. Additionally, the ChargePoint America website provides a way for drivers to suggest public locations for charging stations.
