Coulomb Technologies, which works in electric vehicle charging station infrastructure,
unveiled the first ChargePoint Network charging station for electric plug-in vehicles that accepts MasterCard PayPass contactless payments.
Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies, said, “we're pleased to enable everyone to use ChargePoint stations by allowing them to pay for parking and charging so conveniently. San Francisco was the first city in the world to install ChargePoint stations for its fleet and city car share program in 2008 and it is once again leading the way with this first installation of the contactless payment system."
The two ChargePoint stations, located at Pier 27 on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, is described by Coulomb officials as “a part of the ChargePoint America program and allows EV drivers in the Bay Area to pay for parking and charging their electric cars quickly and conveniently by simply tapping their PayPass-enabled MasterCard card on a PayPass-equipped reader designed and developed by Uniform Industrial Corporation.”
Earlier this month, TMC (News - Alert) reported that both Time Magazine and BusinessWeek have recognized their ChargePoint Network for electric vehicle (EV) charging as one of the top innovations for 2010. The November 22 issue of Time, names the ChargePoint station as one of The 50 Best Inventions of 2010. Additionally, the November 5 issue of BusinessWeek names Coulomb as one of the top 20 Small Businesses of the Future. Coulomb also announced it is the recipient of three new patents for EV charging station design.
Coulomb has shipped more than 850 ChargePoint stations worldwide and has installations in more than 14 Bay Area cities including San Francisco, San Jose and Walnut Creek. "San Francisco is committed to making the Bay Area region the center for the EV market and boost our green economy," said San Francisco Mayor, Gavin Newsom.
Coulomb Technologies' ChargePoint stations will continue to accept their proprietary ChargePass contactless payment cards, along with MasterCard PayPass contactless payments. Consumers can tap their PayPass cards or devices on PayPass readers located directly on the charging stations.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.Edited by
Jaclyn Allard
