Bochum, Germany August 31st, 2009

365 Energy Group today announced the first German installation of ChargePoint(tm) networked charging stations. On Monday, the public utilities in Bochum activated five charging stations from global market leader Coulomb Technologies, which were installed by distribution partner 365 Energy Group. The ChargePoint charging stations ensure that in the future electric vehicles can easily be ”fuelled” in the Ruhr area metropolis.

After testing three suppliers, the public utility Bochum decided in favour of the Coulomb’s ChargePoint charging stations.

“Setting up the charging stations is a first step in the expansion of electric mobility and the appendant infrastructure”, said public utilities principal Bernd Wilmert. “Within the campaign Bochum becomes e-mobile.” Wilmert introduced the charging stations involvement in during ruhrmobil-E, a regional association of industry, economy, politics and research.

One charging station has been installed on the customer parking lots at the headquarters of the public utilities. Another charging station is located at the housing association VBW in the Matthias-Claudius-Straße. The locations of the other two ChargePoints stations are have not been firmly determined.

Coulomb’s ChargePoint charging stations provide far more than simple electricity filling stations: The “fuel pumps” are connected to a network that allows remote monitoring of the charging stations. This enables the driver to find the nearby charging stations via a Google Map where they can see if they are available for use. The network technology of the stations also safely processes the subscription of the driver at the stations and the payment.

The network controlled ChargePoint stations

The driver gets access to the ChargePoint Network by holding their card – an electronic key – over the front side of the charging station. After connecting their vehicle, the tailboard closes until charging is complete.

„This charging station network is an equally sophisticated and practicable solution for the „refuelling” of electric vehicles,” said Mark Kriek, CEO of 365 Energy. „It considers the interests of everyone involved: drivers, companies that want to operate charging stations, electricity producers and the car industry.” It also offers municipalities an interesting, so far unknown business model. By enabling an easily realisable infrastructure of charging stations, they can permanently benefit from the gains.

The solution of 365 Energy Group is also especially interesting for public or private motor pools: A vehicle fleet management-gateway contains functions such as: interactive maps, how much fuel and emissions have been saved, which vehicles are being charged, and which ones are fueled or need to be charged urgently. In addition, the driver will receive a short message on their cell phone when the process of charging is complete or has been interrupted.

365 Energy Group – Changing the Way People Move

The 365 Energy Group with locations in Berlin, Eindhoven and Milano sees itself as the pioneer in the e-mobility industry. The company provides innovative charging stations with a network technology – a completely new and holistic approach to charging electric vehicles. This technology was developed by Coulomb Technologies, the global market leader in the infrastructure of electric vehicles. 365 Energy is the international partner of Coulomb Technologies and an investment management company of Estag Capital AG in Berlin.