Backgrounder
Business Overview
Major automakers including GM, Toyota, and Nissan have announced delivery of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles to the U.S. market place by 2010. Rising gas prices, interest in avoiding oil imports, and environmental concerns are driving demand for vehicles fueled by electricity. However, the lack of an adequate public charging infrastructure to support the expected demand could limit the adoption rate and the benefits that plug-in vehicles offer. There is also concern that public charging will adversely affect the electric grid by increasing demand during peak usage periods.
Coulomb Technologies offers the ChargePoint Network, a family of products and services that provide a smart charging infrastructure for plug-in vehicles. At the edge of the ChargePoint Network are Smartlet charging stations, located in public and private parking areas. Each Smartlet charging station is individually controlled through the wireless Smartlet Communications Network and the ChargePoint Network Operating System to provide authentication, usage monitoring and real-time control. Users subscribe to the ChargePoint Network and receive an RFID key fob that allows them to charge their car at any Smartlet.
Coulomb Technologies has two inter-related businesses: a product sales business and a service business. Smartlet charging stations are sold to municipalities and parking lot owners as capital equipment in a business-to-business model. Charging access is sold to drivers of plug-in vehicles as a subscription service in a business-to-consumer model.
Plug-In Vehicle Market Background
Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles (PHEVs), Electric Vehicles (EVs), and Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) are expected to be popular with consumers for the following three key reasons: 1) Gasoline prices are rising uncontrollably, 2) Foreign oil dependence creates national security issues, and 3) Concern about greenhouse gas emissions.
General Motors, Toyota, and Nissan have announced plug-in car availability by 2010. The Smart ForTwo EV by Mercedes is being trialed in London today. Tesla Motors, Think, Phoenix Motorcars and Fisker Automotive will begin shipping EVs in the U.S. between 2008 and 2009. Other automakers, including Volvo, BMW, and Ford all have plugin hybrid or electric vehicles in development.
The electric utility industry in the U.S. stands to benefit from the use of electricity as a transportation fuel. Many cars will be charged when electrical demand is low and there is spare capacity on the grid. This means additional revenue for electricity producers with little additional capital investment. In addition, by ensuring that charging load is controllable, the utilities can optimize the grid.
Challenges to Address
Despite the promise of electricity as an alternative fuel source, there are challenges to address. Many consumers don't have adequate places to charge a plug-in vehicle. There are 54 million garages for the 247 million registered cars in the U.S. Consequently a majority of cars are parked at night in parking structures, parking lots or curbside. In urban areas like San Francisco, only about 16% of cars are parked in garages overnight. Additionally, according to studies, most people will want to charge their cars twice a day, compounding the problem of inadequate charging locations.
While there is plenty of grid capacity for charging electric vehicles at night, there are concerns regarding charging during peak demand periods such as hot summer days. It is necessary to integrate energy management technology into charging infrastructures.
Also, transportation fuel taxes are used to build and maintain our public highway and road system. A charging infrastructure should have a mechanism for computing tax on the use of electricity for transportation.
A smart charging infrastructure is needed that can address these challenges and enable consumers to charge their plug-in vehicles at easily accessible public charging locations. The adoption of plug-in vehicles will be limited until such an infrastructure is developed and in place.
A Sustainable Smart Charging Infrastructure
Coulomb's products and services comprise a smart charging infrastructure for plug-in vehicles that addresses the needs of drivers, parking space owners, electric utilities and governments:
- Drivers benefit from convenient, easy-to-use charging stations.
- Municipalities and other parking lot owners can provide charging stations that are easy to install and maintain and are profitable through a recurring income stream.
- Electric utility companies and grid operators are provided with a means to control the load that plug-in vehicles put on the grid.
- A revenue flow from charging subscriptions provides the money needed to pay for capital, energy, maintenance, and taxes.
Core Technology
Coulomb's core technology includes the elements required to build and enable a smart charging infrastructure for plug-in vehicles. Coulomb integrates the following three key components into a seamless, scalable, reliable, costeffective solution called the ChargePoint Network:
- Smartlet Charging Stations: Perform bi-directional energy metering and control, user authentication, and 802.15.4 wireless LAN technology, which enables a "pay for what you use" model through communication with a data center.
- Smartlet Communications Network: Provides a high reliability meshed network using 802.15.4 technology and GSM/GRPS technology to communicate with the Network Operating System for user authentication, access control, energy flow control and energy metering.
- ChargePoint Network Operating System (NOS): Manages the Smartlet Charging Stations through the Smartlet Communications Network. The ChargePoint Network also provides web portals for subscribers, hosts and utilities. Functions include user authentication, access control, energy flow control, location management, utility company policy administration, user portal, host property portal, utility portal and GPS system interface.
Core Technology Benefits
Coulomb's ChargePoint Network solution will:
- Enable rapid adoption of plug-in vehicles.
- Perform bidirectional energy measurement.
- Provide a reliable way for consumers to charge their electric vehicles anywhere they park.
- Set standards for intelligent networked energy distribution.
- Give the utilities the control they need to ensure that vehicle charging is beneficial to the grid.
- Provide revenue flow for all interested agencies and hosts.
Products and Services
Business-to-Business Products
Coulomb sells the Smartlet family of charging stations to municipalities and other parking lot owners as capital equipment. Coulomb's sales and installation channel is comprised of companies that typically sell and install streetlights and traffic control devices. Coulomb provides a recurring revenue source to the parking lot property owners in the form of rent. The company remits a share of charging revenue to the purchaser of Smartlet charging stations until their purchase and installation costs have been paid back. Coulomb also pays for electricity that is used by measuring the amount used by each charging station at a property and refunding the electricity costs to the property owner. The property owner also has access to the ChargePoint NOS server through a web portal, where information about the inventory of Smartlet Charging Stations is kept along with revenue generation and usage records.
Business–to-Consumer Services
Drivers of plug-in vehicles subscribe to the ChargePoint Network to gain access and use of the charging stations. There are different subscription plans to support the varying needs of vehicle owners. Like cell phone plans, ChargePoint Network subscription plans are based on anticipated usage requirements. Consumers have access to the ChargePoint NOS through the subscriber portal called mychargepoint.net. The portal provides the ability to initiate and tailor the account, change subscription plans, review usage and locations, and to request new charging stations. Revenue from subscriptions is used to pay for capital costs, "rent" to charging station hosts, electricity cost reimbursement to hosts, maintenance of the charging stations, and operation the ChargePoint NOS.
Market Data
Fueling Plug-In Vehicles. Demand for the ChargePoint Network will grow as electricity becomes a major transportation fuel over the next 20-25 years. General Motors has publicly stated that it will ship between 20,000- 100,000 Chevy Volt Extended Range Electric Vehicles (EREV) in 2010, and Toyota's PHEV fleet sales will begin in the same year. Coulomb estimates approximately 33,000 U.S. plug-in vehicle shipments in 2010 will grow to over 780,000 vehicles just four years later. We estimate that revenue from a smart charging infrastructure could reach over $22 million in 2010, growing to over $1.2 billion in 2014. The demand for charging stations is estimated at between 1.8 and 3.0 units per car.
Tapping the budget for green initiatives. In response to mounting political pressures, municipalities and businesses have budgeted to spend money on green programs. For example, San Francisco has $10.2 million budgeted for energy efficiency initiatives in 2008. Municipalities can help jumpstart the market for charging infrastructure by using some of the funds for the purpose of encouraging the sale and use of plug-in vehicles.
Benefits
In addition to delivering electricity to plug-in vehicles, Coulomb's smart charging infrastructure:
- Provides relief to the electric grid during peak demand periods. Utilities are implementing Demand Response (DR) policies to reduce demand on the grid during peak demand periods. These DR policies will be extended to plug-in vehicles. The ChargePoint Network is designed to implement these policies.
- Enables "valley filling" during low-demand times. This feature encourages plug-in vehicles to charge during times when the grid is least utilized, increasing the efficiency of the grid.
- Meets consumer demand for easy, convenient charging. Coulomb technology helps drivers keep their plug-in vehicles charged so they can avoid using gasoline, using conveniently located charging stations.
- Provides for revenue flow. Using revenue from subscriptions, Coulomb will pay for: electricity used for charging, capital payback for Smartlet charging stations, maintenance of the stations and the network, "rent" to property owners where stations are located, and fuel taxes that may be imposed.
- Delivers the ability to implement transportation taxes. As electricity becomes more of a transportation fuel, federal, state and local agencies are concerned about eroding gas tax revenue, which has been used to develop and maintain highways and roads. Coulomb's ChargePoint Network includes the ability to implement transportation taxes.
- Offers scalability. Coulomb's ChargePoint Network is a scalable solution for an expanding plug-in vehicle market.
Company History
Coulomb Technologies was founded in 2007 by six experienced entrepreneurs and executives from Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies, 3Com Networks, Echelon Corporation, and Tesla Motors. Two of the founding members bring valuable experience in local government.
Coulomb has several patents filed. The company forms and maintains alliances with automakers, utilities, and municipalities, all of which are working toward building a sustainable, scalable business model to enable a publicly accessible smart charging infrastructure for plug-in vehicles.
Management Team
Richard Lowenthal
Founder and CEO
From 1998 – 2006 Richard Lowenthal provided business formation consulting services for high-tech startup firms as sole proprietor of Berteleda Consulting. Through his consulting firm, he has been involved in starting several companies, including Lightera, Pipal Systems and Procket Networks. From 1996 to 1997, Mr. Lowenthal was vice president and general manager of Cisco's WAN Access Products Division. From 1990 through 1995, Mr. Lowenthal was vice president of Research and Development for StrataCom, a telecommunications product development and manufacturing company. Prior to StrataCom, Mr. Lowenthal was co-founder and vice president of Engineering for Stardent Computers, a high-performance computer company in Sunnyvale, California. Mr. Lowenthal was also vice president of Engineering for Convergent Technologies in San Jose.
Mr. Lowenthal is also a former Mayor of Cupertino, California. He has chaired the boards of several organizations, including the Rotary Club of Cupertino, West Valley Community Services, Fremont Union High Schools Foundation and the Santa Clara County Libraries Joint Powers Authority. He is currently Chair of the Board of the YMCA's of Santa Clara Valley. Mr. Lowenthal has a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley.
Praveen K. Mandal
Founder and President
Praveen K. Mandal brings to Coulomb Technologies more than 18 years of experience. Prior to Coulomb, he was vice president of research and development for Carrier Ethernet Solutions at Lucent Technologies. Before joining Lucent through an acquisition, Mr. Mandal was the vice president of engineering at Riverstone Networks, a company well regarded by many analysts as having the top technologies in the Carrier Ethernet routing market. Mr. Mandal joined Riverstone when Pipal Systems, where he served as CEO and Founder, was acquired. Before founding Pipal, Mr. Mandal held consulting and Venture Partner positions with numerous Venture Capital firms in Silicon Valley, providing his insight and expertise on market trends, telecommunications technology, and team assessments. Mr. Mandal is a veteran of five successful start-ups, including Redback Networks, Global Internet and ZeitNet. Mr. Mandal holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University.
Harjinder S. Bhade
Founder and Vice President of Engineering, Software
Harjinder S. Bhade has been in the networking field for more than 20 years, delivering highly scalable, faulttolerant systems for the world's most demanding applications. Mr. Bhade has held variety of roles in this field, ranging from software engineer, to senior director of engineering, to positions in product quality and project management. Prior to Coulomb Technologies, Mr. Bhade was senior director of engineering at Lucent Technologies and Riverstone Networks. Mr. Bhade was founder and director of software at Pipal Systems, which was acquired by Riverstone Networks. Earlier in his career, Mr. Bhade worked in variety of engineering, project management and quality assurance roles at Pluris, ZeitNet, Network Equipment Technologies and Bell-Northern Research/Nortel. Mr. Bhade holds a B.S. degree in computer science from Chico State and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.
Dave Baxter
Founder and Vice President of Engineering, Hardware
Dave Baxter is a technology innovator and product developer. Mr. Baxter has held many senior management positions, including vice president of engineering at 3Com Corporation, where he led the development of numerous router based products, and vice president of engineering at Adept Technology, where he developed multiple generations of assembly robots and flexible automation controllers used in factories and food packaging plants worldwide. A pioneer of voice over broadband technology, Mr. Baxter led the development of the industry's first carrier grade voice over DSL system while vice president of engineering for Jetstream Communications.
Mr. Baxter has also directed customer service organizations for multiple companies, and earlier in his career, he developed computer systems, ranging from desktop workstations to a graphics supercomputer. Mr. Baxter received a B.S. from the Engineering College at Cornell University.
Scott Saffian
Sr. Vice President of Worldwide Sales
With more than 30 years of sales experience, Scott Saffian has generated significant revenue and built sales teams for both hardware and software organizations. Most recently Mr. Saffian was vice president of academic sales at Xythos Software, a leading provider of Internet-based document and file management applications. Through his leadership at Xythos he helped grow the business from less than 50,000 users to more than 4M licensed users today, and made them the undisputed leader in document management in higher education. Mr. Saffian was also the Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Xippix, an Internet-base visualization software company, and Aurora Technologies where he opened up distribution sales to the PRC through Hong Kong. Mr. Saffian holds degrees from the University of Pittsburgh.
Milton T. (Tom) Tormey
Vice President of Product Management
Tom Tormey brings to Coulomb demonstrated leadership of high volume, leading edge product development teams in multiple start-up companies. His early experience spans over 15 years in design and senior management positions at semiconductor companies such as Silicon Systems, Zymos, Sierra Semiconductor, and most recently as Vice President of Engineering at InvenSense where Mr. Tormey managed the design and product development teams that created the world's first dual-axis MEMS gyroscope. Prior to Invensense, Mr. Tormey was Vice President of Engineering at Echelon Corporation where spent 14 years managing the development of a wide range of networking hardware, including analog/digital boards and systems, routers, gateways, web servers and other 8-, 16- and 32-bit embedded systems as well as the development of an integrated network processor/ PHY chip family that has shipped in excess of 50 million units world-wide. Mr. Tormey received his BSEE from the University of California, Irvine and his MSEE from the University of California Berkeley. He is the co-author of four patents.
