Coulomb Technologies announced electric vehicle (EV) driver services have arrived in downtown Laguna Beach, CA. with the installation of two charging stations for EVs managed by the ChargePoint® Network. The two new stations are located near the corner of Forest Avenue and Broadway in downtown Laguna Beach. The stations are the first installation by the City of Laguna Beach and will offer EV charging services as part of the ChargePoint Network, providing drivers EV services including real-time charging station status and reservations.
The charging stations will be unveiled on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at a 4:00 pm press event that includes members of the Laguna Beach City Council and Mayor Toni Iseman. A charging demonstration of numerous EVs at the dual-outlet stations includes a Chevrolet Volt, Nissan LEAF and Tesla Roadster.
“Laguna Beach is welcoming electric vehicles into their community by installing these state of the art charging stations,” said Pat Romano, president and CEO at Coulomb. “Residents and visitors alike can now easily and conveniently fuel their vehicles in downtown. As more and more EVs arrive in Southern California, these stations will attract new visitors.”
At this time, charging an electric vehicle at the new stations is free for four hours per day. After the four-hour limit, the vehicle must be moved to allow other vehicles to use the stations. The ChargePoint Network expansion into Laguna Beach brings EV drivers easy-to-use unique charging services including the ability to: check real-time status and location of unoccupied charging stations, reserve a charging station, track and report greenhouse gas and gasoline savings, and receive charging status notifications by SMS, email or smart phone (iPhoneand Blackberry) applications. Coulomb’s ChargePoint Network is open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles and all manufacturers of electric vehicle charging stations. All electric vehicle owners are encouraged to try out the new charging stations.
The charging equipment is provided through a grant from the United States Department of Energy, and installation was paid for by the City. The stations represent a commitment by the City for a sustainable future and transportation diversity. The stations are a part of Coulomb’s $37 million ChargePoint America program, which offers thousands of free EV charging stations for public and home charging to individuals and businesses. The charging stations were supplied by Coulomb regional distributor Clean Fuel Connection, which used contractor Linc Group for installation.
Coulomb’s ChargePoint America program will provide nearly 5,000 charging stations to program participants in ten regions in the United States: Austin, Texas, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando/Tampa, Sacramento, Calif., San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, Redmond/Bellevue, Wash., Washington DC/Baltimore, Southern Michigan (including Grand Rapids, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Detroit). The program is a strategic partnership between Coulomb and three leading automobile brands: Ford, Chevrolet and smart USA. Coulomb currently has the largest established base of networked charging stations worldwide with more than 4000 systems shipped to more than 700 customers. Installation of the ChargePoint charging stations is currently underway in all regions.