MIAMI BEACH, FL and SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire -06/21/12)- In the Winchester garage at San Jose's popular Santana Row shopping district, electric vehicle (EV) drivers can now utilize EV charging services right at the entrance to the garage. Working with Federal Realty, CarCharging (CCGI) offers quick and easy EV charging services to Santana Row commuters, residents, shoppers, and employees.
Santana Row is Silicon Valley's premier shopping, dining, and living destination with over 100 merchants, including 20 restaurants, 9 spas & salons, 70 shops and boutiques, and over 600 luxury rental homes. With a 212-room European-style boutique hotel and six-screen arts theatre the one-of-a-kind neighborhood consistently draws large numbers of visitors from across the San Francisco Bay area.
"With a growing number of our residents, employees and visitors now driving EVs, providing EV charging stations is an added convenience and service we are excited to offer," said Collette Navarrette, Director of Marketing for Federal Realty/Santana Row.
"We continue to extend the footprint of our EV charging services in California, to support the hottest markets for sales of electric vehicles and growing consumer demand for EV charging services," said Michael D. Farkas, CEO of CarCharging. "CarCharging is committed to delivering convenient EV charging services to provide all EV drivers with easy access to our services."
CarCharging's service utilizes a Coulomb Technologies EV fast charging station, known as Level II, which provides 240 volts with 32 amps of power to quickly refuel an electric vehicle's battery. The EV charging stations utilize the standard SAE J1772™ connector widely adopted by nearly all automobile manufacturers.
EV drivers can easily register and create a CarCharging account online, and attach a small card to their keychain to initiate use and payment at any intelligent CarCharging station. The CarCharging keychain card also allows drivers to use charging locations on the ChargePoint® Network, the largest national online network connecting EV drivers to EV charging stations. CarCharging also accepts direct payment via credit card.
Users can pinpoint EV charging station locations using the CarCharging map at //www.carcharging.com/. The ChargePoint® mobile application for the iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry phones also provides real-time charging station location information with turn-by-turn directions. Drivers will soon be able to reserve a time slot, guaranteeing access to EV charging stations to recharge their electric vehicle.
Electric vehicles already on the market include the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, BMW ActiveE, Ford Focus Electric, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Coda, and Fisker Karma. Additional electric vehicle models are expected to be available later this year.