Coulomb Technologies Introduces ChargePoint Android App For Electric Vehicle Owners

Coulomb Technologies today introduced its latest ChargePoint® smart phone app, for Android smart phones. Now available for free in the Android Market for the US, the ChargePoint App joins Coulomb's mobile app product family, which includes apps for the Blackberry and iPhone. Coulomb's ChargePoint apps continue to be the industry's first and only mobile apps that give electric vehicle (EV) drivers real-time charging station status, reservations, location information and navigation.

"We are seeing more than 20 thousand vehicle charging sessions a month on the ChargePoint Network and, on average, drivers remain plugged in for an average of eight hours a session"

"We are seeing more than 20 thousand vehicle charging sessions a month on the ChargePoint Network and, on average, drivers remain plugged in for an average of eight hours a session," said Richard Lowenthal, founder and CTO at Coulomb. "The ChargePoint app provides essential information and control for EV drivers needing to charge. Since EV charging stations are typically busy for hours, EV drivers need an app that tells them which stations are currently available to them. I have driven EVs for more than a decade and know firsthand what it means to arrive at stations that are already use or broken. That doesn't happen on ChargePoint."

The ChargePoint mobile apps provide an easy way to access the world's largest EV charging network with features to locate stations near any specified address, get turn-by-turn directions, and even start and stop a charging session directly from a smart phone. Additionally, these apps allow drivers to utilize the ChargePoint Network's new reservation feature. Drivers can now locate reservable stations, and then make, view, and cancel a reservation timeslot directly from a smart phone.

ChargePoint app features include the ability to:

Find charging stations near you or near any specified address
Get turn-by-turn directions to charging stations
See the real-time availability of charging stations: Available or In Use
Start and Stop charging sessions directly from the ChargePoint app
Get directions from your current location to where your vehicle is charging
Get status on your current or most recent charging session: energy used, greenhouse gas savings, time
Receive real-time notifications of your current charging session
View station details including: charging station configuration (voltage/current/connector), price to charge, and total cost after completing a charging session
Search and filter for stations by: available, in use, paid, free
Reservations: Locate reservable stations, and then make, view, and cancel reservations directly from the ChargePoint app
View your ChargePass account info.
Ability to view your Home Charger and its status.

Audi A1 e-tron wins Silvretta Electric Car Rally

Audi is this year's overall winner of the second Silvretta Electric Car Rally in Austria's Montafon region. The 2011 victory of the A1 e-tron follows the R8 e-tron's win last year. The second Audi in the rally, a Q5 HFC with a fuel cell finished in sixth place. A total of 32 electric vehicles were evaluated.

After three days, 307 kilometers and a total altitude difference of 11,541 meters, the A1 e-tron bearing the number 206 was named the winner of the second Silvretta Electric Car Rally Montafon. The event took place from July 7-9 as part of the 14th Silvretta Classic. The name Silvretta refers to a group of mountains in the eastern Alps of Austria. The Audi A1 e-tron won against 31 competitors in a rally, that was held on highly taxing mountain roads with inclines up to 15 percent, presenting a special challenge to electric vehicles. The Audi Q5 HFC, which was also entered by Audi, achieved sixth place. This was the best final result of all cars with a fuel cell.

The A1 e-tron contains technology that Audi's development engineers are using to study the mobility requirements for such a future-oriented concept. The technological basis includes an electric motor with a maximum output of 75 kW that is powered by a lithium-ion battery. The battery features a 12 kWh capacity and can be completely charged in 30 minutes (quick charge), or in less than three hours (standard charge). It offers a range of 50 kilometers. To prevent drivers from being stranded by an empty battery, the A1 e-tron also comes equipped with a combustion engine, which can charge the battery as needed. The one-disc rotary engine (254 cc) is located under the trunk floor; it provides 15 kW of output intended solely to charge the battery, rather than to directly power the wheels.

The A1 e-tron is designed with a local emission-free electric drive system, which is ideally suited for driving in a city.

During the rally the A1 e-tron was driven by Franciscus van Meel, Head of Electromobility Strategy at AUDI AG. Long-time Audi employee Gerhard Gruber took on the important role of co-driver. "Sending an electric car into the Alps is one of the toughest challenges you can present it with. The fact that the A1 e-tron proved so impressive here is especially gratifying to me and it proves we're on the right track with our electric mobility approach of combining an electric motor with a combustion engine . Many thanks to our dedicated team for making our second overall victory in a row possible," said van Meel after crossing the finish line.

Van Meel then went on to describe the rally itself: "On the first day we drove cautiously and despite a distance of just over 100 kilometers we finished with a lot of electricity left in the battery. On the second day we were better prepared and we were able to win the day; on day three we came in second, and in the end that was enough to win the overall victory. The car ran flawlessly. We're now looking forward to the 2012 rally. We already have a few ideas about the kind of concepts we'll enter with, of course."