EV Alliance to Deploy EV Charging Stations in Bay Area

Berkeley, C.A., May 15, 2014 - The California EV Alliance announced that the California Energy Commission today awarded $474,052 for the deployment of EV charging infrastructure in the San Francisco Bay Area. A consortium of EV industry leaders developed the Bay Area Charge Ahead Project to deploy 37 charging stations -- and a total of 74 individual charge ports -- across 18 locations in 10 municipalities. The consortium led by the California EV Alliance includes ChargePoint, ABM, the Bay Area Climate Collaborative, and ten municipalities.

“ABM and ChargePoint are proud to be deploying these EV charging stations together in the Bay Area,” says Cameron Funk, Director Business Development for ABM; and Richard Lowenthal, ChargePoint co-founder, in a joint statement. ChargePoint is the established national leader in EV charging station design and manufacturing, with more than 17,000 stations deployed globally, while ABM is a North American leader in charge station installation.

The Bay Area Charge Ahead project was developed with the support of two nonprofit leaders in EV and clean energy work – the California EV Alliance, and the Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC) According to the Alliance Executive Director, Richard Schorske, and the BACC Executive Director, Rafael Reyes: “This project is a milestone in our joint work to help Bay Area municipalities build out the region’s EV infrastructure, and we look forward to advancing best practices that will make this region the national leader in mass EV adoption.”

The publicly available charging stations will be deployed at locations in the cities of Benicia, Berkeley, Fremont, Hayward, Napa, Novato, Petaluma, San Leandro, St Helena, and Yountville. The Bay Area has nearly 40 percent of the plug-in electric vehicles in California and public charging enables more miles to be travelled with clean electric drive vehicles. Over 10 years, the Bay Area Charge Ahead project infrastructure is projected to result in net reductions of 10 million kilograms of CO2 compared to the global warming pollution of regular gas vehicles.

“We are excited to be accelerating EV adoption in Berkeley and throughout the region. EVs are a big win for people to save money, improve air quality, and cut the pollution that’s causing global warming,” said Berkeley Mayor and Bay Area EV Strategic Council co-chair Tom Bates, “And when people experience electric they discover that these cars really are the better ride!”

The lead applicant for the grant is the California EV Alliance, a public/private partnership that works to accelerate mass adoption of EVs. San Jose based EV equipment maker ChargePoint will provide the charging stations, ABM will install them, and the Bay Area Climate Collaborative, a non-profit project of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, will provide project management services.

About the California EV Alliance

The California EV Alliance promotes the mass adoption of EVs in California by developing EV-friendly policies, programs, and resources at the state, regional, and local level. The Alliance brings together public/private partnerships to accelerate development of EV charging infrastructure, build EV awareness, and plan for the EV transition, in alignment with the state’s goal to ensure that 80% of all vehicles are electric drive by the year 2050.

About ABM

ABM (NYSE: ABM) is a leading provider of facility solutions with revenues of $4.8 billion and 100,000+ employees in over 350 offices deployed throughout the United States and various international locations. ABM’s comprehensive capabilities include facilities engineering, commercial cleaning, energy solutions, HVAC, electrical, landscaping, parking and security, provided through stand-alone or integrated solutions.

ABM Energy is dedicated to providing technologies and solutions that reduce energy consumption and operating costs as well as improve sustainability – from state-of-the-art building controls and high-efficiency heating and cooling equipment to electric vehicle charging stations and renewable energy systems. For more information please visit www.abm.com/energy.

About ChargePoint

ChargePoint is the largest and most open electric vehicle (EV) charging network in the world, with more than 17,000 charging locations. Ranked #1 by leading independent research firm, Navigant Research, ChargePoint makes advanced hardware and best-in-class cloud based software. ChargePoint’s open network is utilized by many leading EV hardware makers and encourages all EV charging manufacturers to join.

ChargePoint’s real-time network information including the availability of charging locations throughout the nation is available through the ChargePoint mobile app, online and via the navigation systems in top-selling EVs including the new BMW i3 and the Nissan LEAF. Every 10 seconds, a driver connects to a ChargePoint station and by initiating over 4.5 million charging sessions, ChargePoint drivers have saved over 3.9 million gallons of gasoline and driven 93 million gas free miles.

For more information about ChargePoint, visit www.chargepoint.com.

About the Bay Area Climate Collaborative

The Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC) is a public-private initiative of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and established by the Mayors of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland to accelerate the clean energy economy. Major partners include Bank of America, PG&E, Environmental Defense Fund, industry partners including ChargePoint, and local governments representing over 70 percent of the Bay Area population. The BACC is driving electric vehicle innovation through co-facilitation of the EV Strategic Council, the executive forum driving the region’s vision to be the “EV Capital of the US”; co-managing the Experience Electric EV marketing campaign with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission; facilitation of 150 electric vehicles to municipal fleets; and Ready, Set, Charge, California! A Guide to EV-Ready Communities delivering key guidance on EV preparedness. For more information on the BACC, please visit: www.baclimate.org.