Historic Galveston Island Unveils Coulomb Technologies Networked Charging Stations for EV
First of 12 Charging Stations Officially Unveiled February 6, 2010 at 10:00 am
HOUSTON February 3, 2010 – Coulomb Technologies today announced that the Galveston Historical Foundation has installed the first of twelve publicly accessible ChargePoint® Networked Charging Stations for electric vehicles (EV). The official unveiling of the stations will take place at the Historical Foundation's headquarters in the 1861 Custom House located at 502 20th Street in the Historic Downtown District Galveston, Texas on Friday, February 6, 2010 at 10:00 am central. The 1861 Custom House ChargePoint charging station installation is the first of more than a dozen planned installations by Positive Energy Resources, a Texas Renewable & Sustainable Resource Systems Integration company based in Houston Galveston Island over the next few months. The charging stations were sold through Verdek-EV, Coulomb's exclusive southwest distributor.
Galveston Island residents and Mardi Gras visitors can see a "Sneak Peak" of the 2010 Tazzari Zero electric sports car on display at Hotel Galvez from Friday, February 5th until Sunday, February 7th and at the unveiling of the Galveston Historical Foundation ChargePoint charging station installation at 10:00 am February 6th. The public is invited to attend the unveiling and all related events. Positive Energy Resources and Verdek-EV encourage all EV owners to show their support by attending the unveiling and enjoy what promises to be an exciting Mardi Gras Galveston 2010.
The City of Houston recently purchased and installed several ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations and has nearly 50 EV's and PHEV's in service today. The installation of the ChargePoint charging stations in Galveston will serve to promote inter-city travel by Houston businesses and residents who own and drive plug-in vehicles and who travel to Galveston.
"The ChargePoint Networked Charging Station is an aesthetically pleasing and effective method of encouraging a practical, viable, renewable and sustainable resources program within our city," said Matthew Pelz, Galveston Historical Foundation special projects coordinator. "The ChargePoint charging stations allow for the use of an emerging clean fuel technology that can be easily integrated in the Historic Downtown District. We are in the process of rebuilding our community since Hurricane Ike swept through. We are embracing sustainable transportation and renewable energy solutions and these charging stations are a welcome addition."
The networked charging station is part of the ChargePoint® Network which is open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles and provides authentication, management, and real-time control for the networked electric vehicle charging stations through multiple web-based portals for Hosts, Fleet Managers, Drivers, and Utilities. ChargePoint Network unique features include:
- Charging status by SMS text or email notification
- Location of unoccupied charging stations via smart phones
- Authenticated access to eliminate energy theft
- Authorized energizing for safety
- Smart Grid integration for utility load management with future V2G capabilities.
The network of electric vehicle charging stations is accessible to all plug-in drivers by making a toll free call to the 24/7 number on each charging station, or signing up for a ChargePoint Network monthly access plan and obtaining a ChargePass™ smart card. Other future payment options include using any smart (RFID) credit/debit card to authorize a. To locate available charging stations, visit www.mychargepoint.net and click "Find Stations".
"ChargePoint provides Texas with proven technology that is available for consumers throughout the Houston area," said Richard Lowenthal, CEO Coulomb Technologies. "The Galveston network of stations combined with the existing Houston network gives Southern Texas one of the largest installations of networked charging stations in the U.S. The demographic considerations for Galveston are near-perfect; the number of people who live and work on the Island, the close proximity to the Houston Metro area, an international tourism base with a mind-set that is supportive of recreational EV use."
Many neighborhood and low-speed electric vehicles are already in use on Galveston Island and more are on the way. The City of Galveston recently placed two new e-buses into service, and an electric taxi company, along with a shuttle service using 12-passenger EV's, are soon to be in operation. Electric bicycles, scooters and motorcycle rentals are soon to be available and will compliment a sustainable transportation initiative that has been well received by the public. The plans and projects underway are designed to make Galveston Island a national leader in clean-fuel sustainable transportation and renewable energy development programs.
For more information on Verdek, please go to: www.verdek-ev.com.
For more on Positive Energy Resources: www.PositiveEnergyResources.com or www.houstonEVcharge.com.
For information on The Galveston Historical Foundation, please go to: www.galvestonhistory.org.
About Coulomb Technologies, Inc.
Coulomb Technologies is the leader in electric vehicle charging station infrastructure with networked charging stations installed in municipalities and organizations worldwide. Coulomb provides a vehicle-charging infrastructure, with an open system driver network: the ChargePoint Network (www.mychargepoint.net) 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, please visit www.coulombtech.com and follow Coulomb on Twitter at twitter.com/coulombevi.
