Green Charge Networks, provider of commercial energy storage in the US, has announced its partnership with ChargePoint, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging network.
Combining energy storage with EV charging eliminates the high cost of demand charges caused by spikes in power usage, often a barrier to installing EV charging stations. Demand charges are part of every commercial electricity bill and are determined by the highest 15 minutes of use during a billing cycle.
"We are proud to partner with ChargePoint, whose mission is to bring convenient charging to every EV driver," said Vic Shao, CEO at Green Charge Networks. "Having EV charging readily available at public locations, especially along highly traveled corridors, will enable further electrification and accelerate adoption of electric vehicles. The combination of energy storage with EV charging is important and necessary, especially in California where demand charges are some of the highest in the nation."
Redwood City, Calif., the third largest city within the County of San Mateo with more than 84,000 residents, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, is the first joint customer to install the combined solution. The expansion of the City's electrical vehicle charging stations furthers the City's environmental standards outlined in their Climate Action Plan to reduce GHG emissions within the community and City operations by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Installed in 2014, the City has five electric vehicle charging station locations combined with energy storage including two DC Fast Charging stations, installed at Redwood Shores library and at the City's downtown parking garage.
The EV charging stations are heavily used with an average of 8 -10 sessions per day. Green Charge Networks' intelligent energy storage is shaving multiple peaks per day (80 in May, 2015) caused by the EV charging stations. The energy storage is expected to save nearly $7,000 annually in demand charges at the five Redwood City locations alone. The Redwood City energy storage equipment and installation came at no cost to the City. Green Charge's unique financing model provides a zero down cost solution. Green Charge Networks installs, owns and maintains all of the energy storage equipment.
"By combining EV charging and energy storage to reduce consumption during peak hours, businesses can save money," said Pasquale Romano, ChargePoint CEO. "This can significantly reduce the cost for a business to offer EV charging thereby increasing EV adoption while promoting grid stability."
Drivers can find charging stations and see their availability in real-time at ChargePoint.com or with the free ChargePoint mobile app. To start a charging session, drivers simply tap their ChargePoint card in front of the station, use the ChargePoint mobile app or call the 1-888 number printed on the ChargePoint station. The cost to use a charging station is set by the business owne.
