A ribbon-cutting was held to celebrate the installation of Bellevue’s first public electric vehicle charging stations, ChargePoint America.
The event, which included speakers at Bellevue’s City Hall parking lot. During the celebration, a Toytota Prius was be used to show how the charging stations work.
Speakers included Bellevue Mayor Don Davidson, ChargePoint America Director Michael Jones, Puget Sound Energy VP of Corporate Affairs Andy Wappler, and Kember Development Company’s Glann Bachman.
With American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding, Campbell, California-based Coulomb Technologies will install 4,600 public and home “ChargePoint America” charging stations in nine regions, including the Bellevue/Redmond area, around the country.
Coulomb is working with Ford, Chevrolet and SmartUSA who, along with other manufacturers, have announced plans to introduce mass-produced electric vehicles in the next two years. The City Hall charging stations were provided to the city free as a part of the ChargePoint America program, in collaboration with Coulomb’s Pacific Northwest distributor, ChargeNorthwest.
The 240-volt charging stations being installed at City Hall, intended primarily for use by visitors who have business with the city, will charge an average automobile electric battery in four to six hours. Most people would likely use them to “top off” during visits to City Hall. ChargePoint stations are networked so users can check the charging status of their car and locations of unoccupied charging stations by using a smart phone.
