Taking Charge

If you make the move to an electric or plug-in hybrid electric (into which group I'll place my Volt for the sake of simplicity), you'll want to do your homework regarding the charging infrastructure in the places you travel to often. In Orlando, it's mainly a ChargePoint system.

When you get your car, especially if you buy it from a dealership, chances are there are ChargePoint cards in your glove box. They look like this (if you have a Volt).

I also have generic cards that ChargePoint sent me when I signed up for an account on its website, http://chargepoint.com.

ChargePoint is a California-based company that truly started out ahead of the game when it comes to public charging. Before there were electric cars, Richard Lowenthal, founder and retired Chief of Technology at ChargePoint, believed that EVs would be the future of automobiles because they made the most sense. His vision seems to be panning out. Lowenthal and his team knew that EVs would require an entirely new infrastructure. In developing their business strategy, they made some pretty important observations and decisions.

• Charging an EV takes time, so drivers want to be topped off whenever possible. Anywhere that an EV could be parked for an hour or more, drivers would want to charge.
• The traditional "gas station" model would not work for EVs. You cannot drive until you're out of battery charge and then pull in for a quick 90 second "fill-up".  The laws of physics prevent this from happening.
• Charging at home would not be enough for people on the go given current battery ranges. (Editorial Note: Tesla is changing this paradigm.)
• No company could afford to make thousands of chargers and install them before EVs become commonplace, but EVs won't increase in popularity until the infrastructure is there. Hence, ChargePoint's business model: pass the cost of chargers on to property owners that want to attract EV drivers as customers. In other words, let the private sector fund EV growth.
• Property owners cannot be bothered with the management of the pay system for chargers. ChargePoint handles this for them.
• Property owners want to know how their charges are being used. So charging stations are networked to provide data to owners, let them know when the station is malfunctioning, and control who has access to the chargers.

ChargePoint claims to be three companies in one: a hardware company that produces chargers, a software company that provides cloud-based services to property owners, and a social media company with an app that shows drivers where to find charging stations, how much they cost, and whether or not a station is currently in use.

This company was pioneering and pretty much stands alone at this point. There is some small competition that is not really growing. On our East Campus, a different companies chargers were installed, currently without a pay structure, but at some point that will likely change.  Currently, 70 percent of all public charging is ChargePoint, and 90 percent of all charger construction is ChargePoint as well.

So if you want to charge, you get the point. Get the cards for free on the website and set up your account which works a lot like an ePass or a Starbucks card. It auto-fills when funds are low and you never pay directly at the charger - you only debit.

Charge on!