Smart grid software company GridPoint, Inc., announced yesterday at the Plug-In 2009 Conference and Exposition that it will provide its next-generation electric vehicle management software, Smart Charging 3.0, to support Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation’s (eTec) deployment of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure.
eTec, a subsidiary of ECOtality (OTCBB: ETLY), was awarded nearly $100 million in stimulus funding last week to deploy charging infrastructure and advance the adoption of electric vehicles.
GridPoint joins Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Nissan North America as strategic partners, as well as other project. Together with INL, GridPoint has already been working for over a year with eTec on electric vehicle performance and fast-charge systems.
GridPoint will provide smart charging and data logging capabilities to utilities in strategic markets of the eTec program in Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington that will support the deployment of up to 5,000 Nissan LEAF vehicles and a network of up to 12,750 charging stations. GridPoint’s charging management software will give utilities the ability to deploy load shifting, load shaping, renewables integration and demand response strategies.
GridPoint’s smart charging software manages the flow of electricity to plug-in vehicles and charging stations, allowing utilities to balance real-time grid conditions with the needs of individual drivers.
Coulomb and GridPoint Unveil Smart Charging Stations
In other company news, GridPoint, today unveiled what it says is the first ever smart grid enabled smart charging stations for electric vehicles.
The integrated solution using Coulomb’s ChargePoint™ Networked Charging Stations for plug-in electric vehicles and GridPoint’s smart charging software application is designed to allow municipalities and utilities to manage vehicle-charging load.
GridPoint said utilities and municipalities will now have a networked infrastructure solution that adapts to critical grid events while prioritizing the need to provide fuel for electric vehicles. In times of peak demand or during critical grid events, utilities are able to utilize public charging infrastructure to manage the electricity load. Demand response events can be dispatched system-wide or targeted to specific locations within the distribution system.
Coulomb Technologies charging stations are designed to be used in municipalities, utilities, green office buildings and parking garages and to allow consumers to charge their electric vehicles wherever they live, work and shop. Consumers subscribe to the ChargePoint Network and receive a ChargePoint Smart Card that allows them to charge their car at any charging station worldwide.
In January, Coulomb raised $3.75 million for continued development of its charging stations.