Coulomb Technologies Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Provided to Marin Clean Energy Cities

Networked ChargePoint America Charging Stations Set for Marin Network

Thursday, October 07, 2010—Eight cities in Marin County participating in Marin Clean Energy (MCE) will receive free electric charging stations from Coulomb Technologies, Inc., as a part of Coulomb’s $37M ChargePoint America program. The announcement was made jointly today by Sustainable San Rafael, which initiated the request, San Rafael Community Development director Bob Brown and Coulomb Technologies.

The ChargePoint stations have universal hookups that can be used by most plug-in electric vehicles, including electric bicycles and the electric cars that major auto companies are beginning to roll out this fall. The first two charging stations are slated to be installed in the public parking garage between B and C Streets in downtown San Rafael.

San Rafael Mayor Al Boro and other officials will unveil the initial charging stations—and the first EV will be charged up— at 3 pm Saturday, October 9, 2010 at the San Rafael City Plaza on Fourth Street, as part of a ‘Green Means Business’ Climate Work Party that starts at the plaza at 1 pm.

“It was serendipity. We were hoping to get a ChargePoint charging station to display at Saturday’s Climate Work Part ,” said Sustainable San Rafael board member and GoSolarMarin founder Lisa Max. “But because of the ChargePoint America program, Coulomb executives told us we could have the stations at no cost. It is a wonderful opportunity for our city, and, as it turns out, for Marin County.”

Coulomb is offering the free charging stations to other Marin cities, as well. At its meeting this Thursday, the Marin Energy Authority will consider covering the installation costs of the donated charging stations for member Cities, as part of its efforts to combat climate change by reducing carbon emissions. In addition to San Rafael, MEA members include Mill Valley, Fairfax, Sausalito, San Anselmo, Tiburon, Belvedere and the County of Marin.

The new stations will help form a proposed network of electric vehicle charging stations around the Bay Area. The Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) is pursuing plans and funding strategies for an early installation of seventeen of the units throughout the county. The San Rafael units also represent a milestone in implementing the City’s Climate Change Action Plan, which calls for EV charging station installation.

Coulomb’s ChargePoint America program will provide 4,600 charging stations 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 DC and is a strategic partnership between Coulomb and three leading automobile makers: Ford, General Motors and smart USA. Coulomb currently has the largest established base of networked charging stations worldwide with more than 850 units shipped to more than 200 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 interested in receiving free public charging stations should visit the ChargePoint America web site www.chargepointamerica.com and sign up by completing the application form. Individuals interested in purchasing an EV should sign up to receive more information about qualifying for a free home charging station. Additionally, the ChargePoint America web site provides a way for drivers to suggest public locations for charging stations.

Marin Clean Energy

Marin Clean Energy is a community-based, alternative energy program of the Marin Energy Authority, a publicly approved, not-for-profit joint powers authority composed of the County of Marin and the cities of San Rafael, Mill Valley, Fairfax, Sausalito, San Anselmo, Tiburon and Belvedere. More information about Marin Clean Energy maybe obtained from www.MarinCleanEnergy.info.

Sustainable San Rafael

Sustainable San Rafael is dedicated to advocacy and community education to help bring about a healthy, balanced and aware society. SSR consists of residents and business people committed to fighting global warming and encouraging more sustainable practices. SSR’s primary focus is to work to create and establish city and county policies that support this goal.

About Coulomb Technologies, Inc.

Coulomb Technologies is the leader in electric vehicle charging systems and application services, with the ChargePoint Network now operating in 14 countries, and Network Operations Centers in the U.S., London, and Hong Kong. Coulomb provides a vehicle-charging infrastructure, with an open system driver network: the ChargePoint Network provides multiple web-based portals for Hosts, Fleet managers, Drivers, and Utilities, and ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations ranging in capability from 120 Volt to 240 Volt AC charging and up to 500 Volt DC charging. For more information, follow Coulomb on Twitter at twitter.com/coulombevi. To request a charging station in your area, visit www.mychargepoint.net/request-station.php. To download the ChargePoint iPhone App, click here.