Feb 05 - San Jose Mercury News, Calif.


The director of the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" is now filming the sequel, "Revenge of the Electric Car." Just a hunch, but Tesla Motors could be cast as the dashing protagonist, while Better Place might be up for best supporting actor.

As for Coulomb Technologies, well, the Oscars might miss it altogether. Silicon Valley's third entry in the race to electrify vehicular travel will never be as sexy as a Tesla Roadster, or seem as futuristic as Better Place's battery-switching robots. Coulomb's logo, apt but dull, reimagines a gas pump as a standard three-prong electrical socket. Its dream is to be a ubiquitous part of the scenery.

When Coulomb this week announced $14 million in second-round funding to advance its business model for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, the Campbell, Calif., startup gave more momentum to the EV revolution. The funding, led by Voyager Capital and Rho Ventures, follows Tesla's disclosure that it will seek an initial public stock offering and Better Place's announcement of a $350 million investment as it prepares to roll out its technology in Israel and Denmark.

Collectively, the startups are trying to resolve a Catch-22 resulting from the limited range of electric motors. How can plug-in cars proliferate without potent places to plug them in? Why build charging stations without a sufficient number of EVs? The startups are working on a variety of solutions.

 Better Place, orchestrating its efforts with French carmaker Renault, will essentially rent out switchable batteries to extend range. Coulomb envisions a landscape transformed by cutting-edge charging stations _ a kind of "smart grid" of Web-networked stations that will communicate with drivers about their availability.

In 2008, Coulomb installed its first ChargePoint Networked Charging Station in a downtown San Jose parking garage; its Web site now shows ChargePoints in at least 24 states. Voyager Capital managing director Daniel Ahn described Coulomb as "the early market leader in the race to provide EV charging infrastructure from both a software technology and market share standpoint."

Coulomb's engineers may be accustomed to working out of the limelight. "We're networking guys," explains founder and CEO Richard Lowenthal, who was a Cisco Systems executive in the late 1990s after it acquired StrataCom, where he had been vice president of research and development. Infrastructure is often taken for granted, while the glamour goes to consumer brands Apple, Google and Facebook _ all of which, of course, would collapse without that unsung Internet networking infrastructure.

Lowenthal was one of those valley techies who enjoyed personal prosperity in the 1990s. He then turned his attention to community affairs, serving two terms on the Cupertino City Council and becoming involved in nonprofits. As a councilman, he sometimes drove an electric Toyota RAV4 that had been provided by Cupertino as part of a state program to promote the technology. (Perhaps you remember that EV charging station at Costco that was always vacant because there were so few electric vehicles around.)

When Lowenthal decided to return to business full time, he said, it was a test ride of a Tesla in 2007 that got him thinking about EV charging stations as a prime business opportunity. While Lowenthal ordered a Tesla, he has since opted for the Mini E, an all-electric Mini Cooper made by BMW.

For Coulomb, the question is whether there will be enough EVs for its ChargePoints. Lowenthal points to the upcoming rollout of Chevrolet's Volt and Nissan's Leaf. China's BYD, now partly owned by Warren Buffett, also plans to bring electric cars to the U.S. Just about every major carmaker now has an EV in the works, with Tesla developing its Model S to take on Mercedes and Lexus in the luxury sedan market.

The revolution might lack the quick acceleration of the Tesla Roadster, Lowenthal suggests, but millions of EVs are coming _ and Coulomb plans to recharge their motors.

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