Google Installs 70 EV Charging Stations at HQ, Dedicated to Employee and GFleet Usage

Search behemoth Google (News - Alert), Inc., has deployed more than 70 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at its worldwide headquarters in Mountain View, California. The charging stations, to be managed by the Campbell, California-based ChargePoint Network, are dedicated to use for employee-owned EVs, as well as the company’s growing car-sharing program for Googlers (GFleet), which includes plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volts and pure EV Nissan LEAFs.

With plans for 250 more charging stations on its campus, and a goal to make 5 percent of its campus parking EV-ready, Google’s installation is the largest U.S. workplace charging installation for electric vehicles. Google has created a video on its Green Blog detailing the company’s green transportation initiatives.

 “By investing in new, green transportation technologies, Google is making a significant contribution to reducing our own greenhouse gas emissions,” said Rolf Schreiber, Technical Program Manager, Electric Transportation, at Google. “Our EVs and charging stations are part of our broader green transportation system, [which] includes biodiesel shuttles that Googlers use to commute to work, instead of driving their own cars. But we’re only one company among many, so we hope our green transportation initiatives serve as a model for other companies to incorporate sustainability programs into their own workplaces.”

More than 3,000 Googlers ride a shuttle bus to the company’s Mountain View headquarters every day. After they get to work, they ride Google’s biodiesel campus shuttles, which use the latest clean diesel technology—reducing emissions 80 percent over engines from just a few years ago.

Google manages its charging stations via the ChargePoint Network, a division of Columb Technologies—and the world’s largest network of charging stations and EV charging applications. The following workplace charging features are available through ChargePoint Network:

• Controlled access: Via an online portal and smart cards, Googlers can control who accesses their charging stations (employees or guests), in order to track costs, eliminate electricity theft, and optimize station use.
• Measuring performance of green initiatives: Online station management provides reports on energy usage, greenhouse gases (GHGs), and gasoline savings data. Reports are displayed by graphs that can be filtered by day, week, month, station attributes, and energy usage/GHG range. Customers also can export their station data and combine the data with other system for further corporate sustainability analysis.
• Network Operations: The ChargePoint Network provides 24/7 station network monitoring to ensure network services are always available
• Driver Services: Customers have access to the ChargePoint Network’s 24/7 driver telephone assistance, e-mail, or text message driver notification alerts for charging session interruption or charging completed. They also have individual driver portals, at which they can customize notifications, track their energy usage and greenhouse gas savings, view charging history, and receive access to the largest network of public charging stations in the world at www.mychargepoint.net.
• Cost-saving utility programs and incentives: Charging stations include utility-grade meters and the ability to communicate with other smart grid systems, enabling demand response, time-of-use pricing, and other smart grid programs provided by local utilities.

“Google continues to drive innovation and leadership in the workplace. The results of their clean transportation efforts are remarkable, taking the equivalent of over 2000 cars off the road every day,” said Bret Sewell, Coulomb Executive Vice President. “We are proud that the ChargePoint Network plays a key role in this success by providing Google a complete electric vehicle charging solution.”

For more information, visit the Chargepoint website or the Google website.