New Program Will Offer Free Electric Car Charging Stations for San Diego Residents Living in Apartments and Condos

Collaborative program to improve access to EV charging stations is led by ChargePoint, City of San Diego, the California Energy Commission and other San Diego partners

San Diego, Calif. Today, ChargePoint – the company that built the world’s largest and most open electric vehicle (EV) charging network – along with City of San Diego, the California Energy Commission, and other local groups, announced a new program to install electric vehicle charging stations at multi-family units throughout San Diego.

The ChargePoint MultiCharge program allows condo and apartment property owners to apply for free electric vehicle chargers – giving San Diego residents the opportunity to own and conveniently charge an electric vehicle at their home. Applicants will only be responsible for the installation costs.v

“At ChargePoint, we are committed to making EV charging stations more accessible to consumers. This collaborative program demonstrates the commitment in this region to encourage EV adoption,” said Pasquale Romano, CEO of ChargePoint. “We are proud to work with our partners to address a need that will make a difference to many San Diegans living in condos or apartments.”

There are approximately 4,000 electric vehicles in San Diego, but due to costs, as well as the high percentage of residents not living in single-family homes, there is a need for more public charging stations in the San Diego region. The ChargePoint MultiCharge San Diego program seeks to help solve this problem by installing 206 affordable charging stations at multi-family units located throughout the county. This will not only meet the demand of current EV drivers but also help residents of multi-family buildings make the move to electric cars.

“The City of San Diego is proud to be a partner on such an innovative program that will make electric vehicles more accessible to the many residents who live in townhouses, condos, and apartments,” said Interim Mayor Todd Gloria. “This particular program will foster innovative electric charging solutions for multi-dwelling residents and provide a working model for other communities in the region.”

More than one-third of San Diego County residents live in multi-family units, which makes it difficult for this group to own an electric vehicle without the ability to charge overnight. Even if these San Diego residents do have a garage to park in, they may lack the authority to install the electrical equipment. ChargePoint’s program has begun working with these buildings to address such issues and to find solutions.

The ChargePoint program gives building owners and residents the opportunity to defray most of the cost of EV charging stations, and makes EV ownership more feasible for residents in the participating buildings. In addition, applicants who install a ChargePoint charging station through this program before the end of 2013, will be eligible to receive a Federal tax credit of 30 percent of the instillation price.

The project will help the San Diego region, as well as the EV industry by generating experience and data needed to make it easier for other multifamily buildings to accommodate EV charging in the future. To collect sufficient data, a wide range of multi-family buildings representing a variety of building sizes, ownership structures, physical configurations, and other factors will be selected to participate.

The deadline for the applications is March 1, 2014, but it is strongly encouraged to apply as soon as possible, as there is a limited number of charging stations for the program. Also, in order to benefit from the Federal tax credit, applicants must have the station installed before the end of this year.

The program will begin rolling out information sessions on October 21 and November 12 from 10am to 12pm at the Energy Innovation Center. 4760 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., San Diego, CA 92117.

Applications will be accepted after the October 21 session and can be found on ChargePoint’s website at www.chargepoint.com/multichargesd. For more information on the 2013 Federal tax credit, please visit http://www.chargepoint.com/taxcredit/.

For invitations and more information on the upcoming sessions, email MultiChargeSD@ChargePoint.com.

About ChargePoint

ChargePoint is the largest and most open electric vehicle (EV) charging network in the world, with more than 13,500 charging locations and a 65%+ market share. Ranked #1 by leading independent research firm, Pike 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 also manages the only mobile app that provides EV drivers with real-time information, including availability of charging locations throughout the nation. Every 15 seconds, a driver connects to a ChargePoint station and by initiating over 3,000,000 charging sessions, ChargePoint drivers have saved over 3.5 million gallons of gasoline and avoided 36 million pounds of CO2 emissions.

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