Coulomb Claims to Install First EV Charging Stations Bought by Apartment Builder

Coulomb Claims to Install First EV Charging Stations Bought by Apartment Builder

By Scott Doggett March 18, 2010

By Danny King, Contributor

Coulomb Technologies is installing what it says is the first group of electric-vehicle charging stations purchased by an apartment-complex developer, signifying the  company's efforts to broaden EV-station distribution beyond municipalities and fleet services in time for the U.S. debut of plug-in cars such as the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf later this year.

Coulomb is deploying three of its ChargePoint stations in Dallas's new 464-unit Belmont complex (right), which was built by Highlands Ranch, Colorado-based UDR. UDR also bought three more charging stations from Coulomb for its 392-unit Savoye complex, which opened to the public earlier this month in Addison, about 15 miles away, Coulomb said in a statement this week.

The charging-station installations are part of an effort by UDR, which owned about 170 apartment complexes totaling about 46,000 apartments as of the end of last year, to build the Belmont in accordance to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) guidelines.

LEED guidelines were developed by a non-profit trade organization - the U.S. Green Building Council - that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built and operated. LEED certification is generally voluntary. It is, basically, a way for developers to show officials and others that they are environmentally responsible.

The installations by UDR also point to the need to serve owners of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) that won't have access to their own dedicated garages as General Motors and Nissan unveil the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid and Leaf BEV, respectively, to the U.S. public later this year.

While overall homeownership rates for U.S. households are in the 70 percent range, it's closer to 50 percent in metropolitan areas such as the San Francisco Bay Area, where many residents are expected to be early adopters of BEVs and PHEVs.

ChargePoint stations cost about $6,000 a piece, not including installation expenses, according to Scott Saffian, Coulomb's senior vice president of sales. How UDR recoups the cost remains to be seen, as it hasn't been determined whether to charge per use, boost rental rates to cover the cost or merely use the stations as a perk to attract prospective tenants, Saffian said.

"They have a bunch of different options," he said in an interview Wednesday, noting that because the stations have systems that require authentication through smart cards or special credit cards, owners can control access to the electricity source.

Saffian added that Coulomb, a Campbell, California-based company that deployed more than 600 of its ChargePoint stations last year and expects to ship thousands more this year, has both secured sale agreements and has held discussions with a number of other apartment developers, as well as condominium and coop owners across North America, about adding stations. He declined to be more specific.

For new single-home owners, some homebuilders such as KB Home have already started to address the EV-charging issue by offering the option of having built-to-order homes pre-wired to handle electric-vehicle charging, with the average extra cost estimated at about $250.

For older homes, though, that number jumps substantially - in some cases into the five-digit range - because of the repaneling and rewiring required to accommodate EVs that require 220-volt systems needed for overnight charging.

For renters, the situation may also be more challenging because of the lack of charging stations in apartment garages.

In addition to Coulomb, Annapolis, Maryland-based SemaConnect is trying to address this situation by pitching its EV-charging and metering systems, which cost between $2,500 and $3,000, to apartment owners.

The apartment owners in turn may be able to charge $125 to $150 a month to EV owner-tenants; that's roughly the equivalent of paying for about 1,000 miles worth of gas, SemaConnect Founder and CEO Mahi Reddy told Green Car Advisor earlier this week.

Still, for apartment developers looking for LEED certification, adding EV charging stations is effective because of the LEED points granted when a development allocates at least 3 percent of its parking stalls to alternative sources of vehicle propulsion such as electricity, Saffian said.

UDR, which is still short of that percentage for the two Texas complexes, "would consider more, but they don't want to get that far ahead of the curve," he said.

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.