Coulomb Technologies Introduces MasterCard PayPass Contactless Payments for Electric Vehicle Charging in San Francisco
Tuesday, November 16, 2010: Noon pacific Press Conference First ChargePoint America Installation in San Francisco.
Electric vehicle drivers can now ‘Tap & Go®’ to make fast and convenient payments for parking and charging at select city locations.
SAN FRANCSICO – November 16, 2010 – Coulomb Technologies, the leader in electric vehicle (EV) charging station infrastructure, today unveiled the first ChargePoint® Network charging station for electric plug-in vehicles that accepts MasterCard®PayPass™ contactless payments. The two ChargePoint stations, located at Pier 27 on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, is a part of the ChargePoint America program and allows EV drivers in the Bay Area to pay for parking and charging their electric cars quickly and conveniently by simply tapping their PayPass-enabled MasterCard card on a PayPass-equipped reader designed and developed by Uniform Industrial Corporation.
Unveiling of the first installation of the ChargePoint station to accept MasterCard PayPass will take place at a press conference on Tuesday, November 16 at 12:00 noon at Pier 27 in San Francisco. Presenting will be San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Bevan Dufty, San Francisco Board Supervisors, David Chui, San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Coulomb Technologies CEO Richard Lowenthal, Kathleen Reilly VP, Sr., Business Leader US Emerging Payments from MasterCard, Priority Parking President Aaron Zeff.
“Accepting MasterCard PayPass supports our commitment to flexibility for EV drivers,” said Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies. “We’re pleased to enable everyone to use ChargePoint stations by allowing them to pay for parking and charging so conveniently. San Francisco was the first city in the world to install ChargePoint stations for its fleet and city car share program in 2008 and it is once again leading the way with this first installation of the contactless payment system.”
Coulomb has shipped more than 850 ChargePoint stations worldwide and has installations in more than 14 Bay Area cities including San Francisco, San Jose and Walnut Creek, building on growing momentum to establish the Bay Area as an epicenter for electronic vehicle usage and infrastructure development. With the addition of MasterCard PayPass, EV owners, municipal fleet drivers and enthusiasts who own or choose to rent plug-in vehicles from car-sharing organizations will be able to make fast and efficient payments at San Francisco charging stations.
“San Francisco is committed to making the Bay Area region the center for the EV market and boost our green economy,” said San Francisco Mayor Newsom. “This partnership between Coulomb and MasterCard is another big step forward for Bay Area drivers by providing greater access to EV chargers.”
Coulomb Technologies’ ChargePoint stations will continue to accept their proprietary ChargePass™ contactless payment cards, along with MasterCard PayPass contactless payments. Consumers can tap their PayPass cards or devices on PayPass readers located directly on the charging stations.
“With this first application of MasterCard PayPass in the progressive realm of electric vehicle charging, we are excited to contribute to the green transportation movement and pleased to continue to expand acceptance of PayPass in the transit environment,” said Cathleen Conforti, senior vice president, global PayPass at MasterCard Worldwide. “MasterCard PayPass enhances the driving experience for EV drivers by offering a fast and efficient payment option to park and charge their vehicle and quickly be on their way.”
“We are pleased to be the first parking facility to offer a publicly available, credit card-enabled charging station in the city of San Francisco,” said Aaron Zeff, Priority Parking owner. “These charging stations are part of our Priority GreenPark initiative, and signal the beginning of charging capabilities in parking facilities. We believe that a network of charging-enabled parking spaces will be important as new electric cars, like the fortwo and Volt, become available.”
Coulomb’s ChargePoint America program will provide 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.
About ChargePoint America
The $37 million ChargePoint America program is made possible by a $15M grant funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the Transportation Electrification Initiative administered by the Department of Energy. ChargePoint America will provide 4,600 public and home ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations, adding to the existing ChargePoint Network. Coulomb will work together with its distribution and industry partners to evaluate the demand from the respective geographic regions and allocate charging stations based on this and other factors. The ChargePoint America project will collect data characterizing vehicle use and charging patterns, and Purdue University and Idaho National Labs will analyze the data. For more program information visit www.chargepointamerica.com.
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.
