CambridgeSide Galleria Announces Charging Services for Electric Vehicles

CambridgeSide Galleria announces it will offer complimentary charging services for electric vehicle (EV) drivers inside their parking garage. The charging services are a part of Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint Network, the largest network of independently owned charging stations in the world.

CambridgeSides charging stations, located on Level A of the parking garage, are made possible via an innovative partnership between the mall and the City of Cambridge and was funded by a Department of Energy federal grant. The Obama administration has set a goal to have one million EVs on the road by 2015. CambridgeSide Galleria is pleased to be a part of this forward thinking movement to reduce air and noise pollution.

On Thursday, March 29, 2012, 2:00pm EST, CambridgeSide Galleria will officially unveil their charging stations via a photo opportunity featuring the highly sought after BMW ActiveE, a "Green Ribbon" cutting, and guest speakers/attendees, including:

Robert Healy Cambridge City Manager
Brian Murphy Cambridge Assistant City Manager
Susanne Rasmussen Director of Environmental and Transportation Planning, City of Cambridge
Issie Shait Senior Vice President Director of Properties, CambridgeSide Galleria
Scott Miller East Coast Director, Coulomb Technologies
Rob Picerno General Sales Manager, BMW Gallery of Norwood

The exclusive all electic BMW ActiveE, one of 700 will be on display at new unveiled charging stations. A front runner of innovation and an advocate for sustainability. The only luxury full electric vehicle on the market.

CambridgeSide charging stations were made available through Coulombs $37 million ChargePoint America Department of Energy program. Coulombs ChargePoint America program will provide charging stations to program participants in ten regions in the United States, includig Cambridge, and is a strategic partnership between Coulomb and leading automative brands, including Ford, Chevrolet, smart USA, BMW, Nissan and Frisker Automative.

EVs including the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan LEAF, have recently began to populate the roads across the nation. However, more and more EVs and Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles (PHEVs) will be entering the U.S. market over the next 12 months including the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, BMW ActiveE and Ford Focus Electric. Coulombs ChargePoint Network provides state-of-the-art features including the ability to: help with trip planning, manage the cost of charging, and the ability to find and operate public ChargePoint-enabled stations. ChargePoint locations are included on all ChargePoint mobile phone applications for iPhone, Android and Blackberry. These mobile apps provide an easy way to locate stations near any specified address, get turn-by-turn directions, and even start and stop a charging session directly from a smart phone. Additionally, these apps allow drivers to utilize ChargePoint Network"s station reservation feature. Drivers can locate reservable stations, and then make, view and cancel a reservation directly from a smart phone. There are more than 6,000 Chargepoint Network charging spots worldwide including 77 public charging stations in Massachusetts, and 50 in the Greater Boston area. The new public charging stations at CambridgeSide Galleria are located on Level A, next to Zipcar inside CambridgeSide Galleria.

About ChargePoint America

The $37 million ChargePoint America program is made possible by a $15M grant funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the Transportation Electrification Initiative administered by the Department of Energy. ChargePoint America will provide 4,600 public and home ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations, adding to the existing ChargePoint Network. Coulomb will work together with its distribution and industry partners to evaluate the demand from the respective geographic regions and allocate charging stations based on this and other factors. The ChargePoint America project will collect data characterizing vehicle use and charging patterns. Idaho National Labs will analyze the data.

About Coulomb Technologies

Coulomb Technologies is the leading electric vehicle charging solutions company. Coulombs ChargePoint Network is the largest online global charging network connecting electric vehicle drivers to charging stations in more than 14 countries. Coulomb also provides ChargePoint Network service plans and cloud-based solutions that handle all drivers billing and support. This provides organizations the control and flexibility they need to optimize performance of their electric vehicle charging operations. Open to all charging station manufacturers, stations on ChargePoint Network are currently dispensing over 354 Megawatt hours of energy each month, with drivers plugging in for more than 2000 charging sessions per day.

About CambridgeSide Galleria

CambridgeSide Galleria is an urban shopping center with over 120 stores and restaurants. Located at the end of Memorial Drive on Edwin Land Boulevard in Cambridge, CambridgeSide Galleria is handicapped and MBTA accessible and offers attached parking.