Nearly 5,000 homes in the US will soon be boosted by free home electric vehicle charging points from Coulomb Technologies.
Any one who buys one of the ChargePoint America programme’s electric vehicles – the Chevrolet Volt, the Ford Focus Electric or the Smart ForTwo Electric – and is located within one of the nine targeted regions will be able to pick up a home charging station at no cost if they live within a 70mile radius of a given city centre.
As part of the Chargepoint America programme, 4,600 level II public and private charging stations will be supplied in nine regions of the US – Austin, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; Los Angeles, California; New York City, New York; Orlando, Florida; Sacramento, California; San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, California; Redmond, Washington; and Washington, DC. The regions had to be on at least one of the participating car manufacturers’ list of target regions, they had to write a letter to support the grant proposal and they had to be major metropolitan areas that were geographically dispersed.
The charge points are expected to be in place by October 2011 with installation to be paid for by the individual or station owner.
Coulomb will evaluate demand in the geographic regions and allocate charging stations accordingly. The $37million programme has been made possible thanks to a $15million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the Transportation Electrification Initiative which is administered by the Department of Energy.
Individuals can apply for the ChargePoint America programme with the dealer or company they buy the electric vehicle from. Meanwhile, charging stations owners can set their own prices for charging through the Flex Billing system.
