Coulomb Technologies announces "Smartlet" public charging stations
At the Plug-In 2008 conference in San Jose CA Coulomb Technologies has announced its new Smartlet charging stations and ChargePoint network system. The plan is for the company to sell the Smartlet stations to municipal governments and parking lot owners and then provide the ChargePoint network to provide a subscription based public charging system for consumers. The Smartlets are equipped with electrical metering and wireless communications capabilities. Drivers would get a subscription through ChargePoint and then when they park their plug-in vehicles, the Smartlet would authenticate and then allow them to start charging. Parking lot owners and cities would take a cut of the revenue while a car is being charged. Coulomb plans to make the Smartlets and the network available later this year and San Jose wants to be the first city to install it. New ABGer Shannon is on hand in San Jose for the conference and will put some more info later.
[Source: Coulomb Technologies]
COULOMB TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES NEW SMART CHARGING
INFRASTRUCTURE FOR PLUG-IN VEHICLES
Smart Charging Stations, Payment Subscriptions and Utility Grid Management
Target New Market of Plug-In Vehicles
Campbell, CALIF. – July 21, 2008 Coulomb Technologies today announced a smart charging
infrastructure for plug-in vehicles. Coulomb has developed a complete solution targeting plug-in vehicles
including Extended Range Electric Vehicles, Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles, and Battery Electric Vehicles.
Coulomb's ChargePoint™ Network includes public charging stations, a consumer subscription plan and
utility grid management technology for electric utility companies to smooth electrical demands on the grid.
The infrastructure solution will be showcased with the Saturn Vue Plug-in Hybrid at the Plug-In 2008
Conference & Exposition July 22-24 in San Jose, Calif. in booth 302.
According to General Motors vice president of global program management, Jon Lauckner "GM is
committed to the success of the plug-in vehicles, including Extended Range Electric Vehicles like the
future Chevy Volt, and together with infrastructure solutions like that of Coulomb Technologies, we are all
moving closer to the commercialization of plug-in vehicles. Intelligent infrastructure technology like
Coulomb's is needed for the rapid adoption of plug-in vehicles and to help address the needs and concerns
of drivers, utilities, governments, and parking space owners."
Coulomb's ChargePoint Network integrates three unique components into a seamless, scalable, reliable,
cost-effective solution. At the edge of the ChargePoint Network are Smartlet™ Charging Stations that are
individually controlled through the wireless Smartlet Communications Network and the ChargePoint
Network Operating System. Coulomb's core technology includes the elements required to build and enable
a smart charging infrastructure for plug-in vehicles.
1. Smartlet Charging Stations: Perform bi-directional energy metering and control, user
authentication, and 802.15.4 wireless local area network technology, which enables a
subscription model through communication with a data center.
2. Smartlet Communications Network: Provides a high reliability meshed network using
802.15.4 technology and GSM/GRPS technology to communicate with the Network
Operating System for user authentication, access control, energy flow control and energy
metering.
3. ChargePoint Network Operating System (NOS): Manages the Smartlet Charging Stations
through the Smartlet Communications Network. The ChargePoint Network also provides web
portals for subscribers, hosts and utilities. Functions include user authentication, access
control, energy flow control, location management, utility company policy administration,
user portal, host property portal, utility portal and GPS system interface.
"Major automakers have announced delivery of plug-in vehicles to the U.S. marketplace by 2010. But with
54 million garages for the 247 million registered passenger vehicles in the U.S. today, most consumers do
not have a way to charge a plug-in vehicle." said Richard Lowenthal CEO of Coulomb Technologies. "We
have developed a scalable, smart charging infrastructure that provides municipalities and parking lot
owners a recurring income stream through public charging stations that are easy to install and maintain.
Our complete technology solution also provides electric utility companies a means to control the load that
plug-in vehicles put on the grid and a means to compute and implement taxes on electricity as a
transportation fuel."
Coulomb Technologies has two inter-related businesses: a product sales business and a service business.
Smartlet Charging Stations are sold to municipalities and parking lot owners as capital equipment in a
business-to-business model. Charging access is sold to drivers of plug-in vehicles as a subscription service
in a business-to-consumer model. Both the Smartlet Charging Stations and ChargePoint Network
Operating System will be available in Q4 2008.
"Through an innovative partnership with Coulomb Technologies, San Jose is demonstrating environmental
leadership and fostering the growth of our clean tech businesses," said Mayor Chuck Reed. "Our goal is to
be the first city in the United States to demonstrate and offer opportunities for residents to charge electric
vehicles from streetlights and other infrastructure. Doing so will help the City meet its Green Vision goals."
About Coulomb
Coulomb Technologies, headquartered in Campbell, California offers a family of products and services that
provide a smart charging infrastructure for plug-in vehicles. Coulomb's ChargePoint Network addresses
needs of drivers, utilities, governments, and parking space owners. For more information, please visit
www.coulombtech.com.
Smartlet and ChargePoint are trademarks of Coulomb Technologies, Inc. in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names,
product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
meme 5:46PM (7/22/2008)
That's great, but let's see some more Level 3 chargers, people! This is only Level 1. Come on, don't let Oahu be ahead of everyone else ;)
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GoodCheer 5:58PM (7/22/2008)
I've got a better idea.
How about instead of paying a subscription for the right to pay for energy, we let the local utilities or ISOs install NEMA 14-50 plugs around town that are equipped with powerline eithernet bridges so they can talk to the on-board battery management systems.
You can then plug in and have your car provide Regulation Down, which would consist of absorbing excess energy (charging) when there is excess power on the grid on the timescales of frequency regulation (a few seconds to a few minutes). Charge for free and stabilize the grid in one easy step!
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Chris M 9:15PM (7/22/2008)
Yeah, that is a better idea. Powerline communication would be more secure, more reliable, and cheaper than 802.15.4 wireless communication, and since there must be a power cable connection o the vehicle anyway, why not?
A bigger concern is potential incompatability with various chargers and EVs on the market. No one would want to pull their EV into a "charge and park" space, only to find it doesn't work with their vehicle. There needs to be a high level meeting between all the companies - auto makers, charger makers, and utility companies - to iron out any compatability issues and make sure they work together.
gulags 7:09PM (7/22/2008)
Holy crap, look at the size of that guy's forehead.
Some unforseen consequence of electric vehicles? :p
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BlackbirdHighway 10:33PM (7/22/2008)
I don't see why the user would need a subscription. All of the gas pumps have credit card readers now. It should be set up so you just swipe your card, just like at a gas pump.
I don't need a subscription to buy gasoline, why should buying electricity have that extra level of inconvenience?
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Chris M 1:14PM (9/29/2008)
The advantage of a "subscription" is convenient monthly billing without the need to swipe a credit card. The "smart outlets" could even be less expensive if a credit card reader was not required.
meme 11:17PM (7/22/2008)
"A bigger concern is potential incompatability with various chargers and EVs on the market. No one would want to pull their EV into a "charge and park" space, only to find it doesn't work with their vehicle. There needs to be a high level meeting between all the companies - auto makers, charger makers, and utility companies - to iron out any compatability issues and make sure they work together."
You mean SAE J1772? Already exists. Comes in three levels -- 1 (basically a wall outlet), 2 (basically a range/RV outlet), and 3 (crazy high power DC) -- plus, if Tesla gets their way, one more ("2+" -- higher power AC than 2)
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tankd0g 11:54PM (7/22/2008)
Let the profit taking begin!
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Serge 11:20AM (7/23/2008)
Subscription scheme might be warranted in Project Better Place case, where you have battery ownership concerns. Why does a quick charge infrastructure require a subscription plan? To rake in extra profits and cause major inconvenience to their customers? They are setting themselves up for failure.
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Boxman 4:17PM (7/23/2008)
Great to see any efforts towards a true EV infrastructure, but I must say these meters look rather complex.
We could learn from the example of parking meters and vending machines. Keep it simple: a standalone device that you put money into, and get electricity out.
These 'wireless-networked, smart-enabled, subscription-based' meters sound like a technical nightmare to me. I hope they provide a backup mechanism in the form of simply inserting quarters or dollar bills.
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GenWaylaid 5:44PM (7/23/2008)
But if just ANYONE could buy electricity, then EV ownership wouldn't be restricted to the tight little club of rich Silicon Valley techno-literati! Obviously there needs to be some kind of gatekeeper to make sure the "right kind" of people are charging their electric cars. Also note that this gatekeeper is a toll gate.
I am amused that so many people are rushing to apply the business models that consumers hate most (printers, cell phones) to EV charging. Maybe they'll figure out a way to make the battery charge expire at the end of the month!
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Richard Lowenthal 11:50AM (9/29/2008)
Hi,
I'm the CEO of Coulomb Technologies. We accept credit cards if a driver prefers, and in addition we offer pay-per-use models where the subscription is very cheap.
Other benefits to subscribers inlcude the ability to use our website to find stations, request stations, and plan trips. It also lets you find out which stations are currently in-use.
Since the cost of each charge is modest, the cost of processing a credit card transaction will cause the cost to the user to increase significantly. Think of the subscription more like FastPass where a debit system allows you to avoid so many transactions with the bank.
We are interested in this dialog and want to make this a great and low-cost experience for drivers.
Reply