Coulomb to deliver 5,000 car charging stations (San Jose)

Coulomb Technologies of Campbell, Calif., will deliver nearly 5,000 free home and public electric vehicle charge stations to nine regions in the U.S., funded by a $15 million Department of Energy grant.

The program, called ChargePoint America, is part of a strategic partnership with automakers Ford, Chevrolet and smart USA and is targeting the areas that are slated to receive the first electric vehicles as automakers revv up manufacturing no-emission cars. About one-third of the stations will be in California, spread between Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

About half of the 5,000 will end up in private garages, while the other half will target public parking lots and parking at companies.

“These charging stations will build upon our already growing and established network of infrastructure and will accelerate the deployment of public and private charging infrastructure which will in turn encourage consumers to buy electric vehicles,” said Richard Lowenthal, Coloumb’s CEO.

Other regions slated to receive charging stations include Austin, Texas; Detroit; New York City; Orlando, Fla.; Redmond, Wash.; and Washington DC. More than 1000 new public charging stations will be installed by December 2010, and the remaining stations will be installed by September 2011.

Lowenthal pointed out there is a job component to the program: the technology is developed in America, the stations are assembled in America and every time a station is installed, it puts three people to work for a day.

Read the full story in the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal.