WE ARE THE FIRST! Le Centre Sheraton Montreal and the Sheraton Centre Toronto
First Hotels in Canada to Offer ChargePoint Electric Vehicle Charging
Services

EV Charging Stations by Coulomb Technologies

TORONTO and MONTREAL, Dec. 7 /CNW/ - Le Centre Sheraton Montreal, the Sheraton Centre Toronto and Coulomb Technologies today announced the installation of the first ChargePoint® networked electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at hotels within Canada. Hotel guests at the Sheraton Centre Toronto and Le Centre Sheraton travelling by EV will enjoy the ease of charging their vehicles downtown while staying at either hotel property. The two charging stations operational at each hotel will also be made available to residents and visitors of Toronto and Montreal. These installations make the Sheraton Centre Toronto and Le Centre Sheraton Montreal the first Canadian hotel properties to offer this service.

"With today's unveiling of the charging stations we are reaffirming our commitment to greener travel," said Tony Dunn, General Manager at the 1,377-room Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. "Both of our hotel properties are proud of a "4 Green Key" rating from the Hotel Association of Canada and we are focused on additional sustainable offerings."  Michel G. Giguère, General Manager at the 825-room Le Centre Sheraton added: "We are proud to be supporting the anticipated increase in electric vehicles over the next several years and see these units as a nice complement to our green meetings protocols and sustainability initiatives offered at the properties."

The ChargePoint Charging Station is a sleek, unobtrusive device equipped with the industry standard SAE J1772™ Level II connector and an industry standard Level I outlet to be used with all kinds of electric vehicles including cars, buses, Segway scooters and bikes. ChargePoint networked EV charging stations are managed by the ChargePoint® Network and provide EV drivers the ability to locate and navigate to charging stations and detect charging station availability from any smart phone or web browser. The ChargePoint Network also facilitates EV trip mapping, driver billing, 24/7 driver assistance, and greenhouse gas and energy savings (kWh) measurement.

"ChargePoint is bringing networked charging infrastructure to communities across North America," said Richard Lowenthal, CEO at Coulomb Technologies. "We applaud the vision of the Sheraton Centre Toronto and Le Centre Sheraton Montreal for driving environmental awareness and enabling people to reduce their carbon footprint."

The ChargePoint® Network is open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles and all manufacturers of plug-in vehicle charging stations. ChargePoint Network's unique features include:

• The ability for a station owner to set fees for use of their stations (including free charging)
• The ability for drivers to access stations without a subscription via contactless credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, and Discover) 
• 24/7/365 telephone driver support via a toll free number on all charging stations
• Smart Grid ready with built in Utility Grade Capable Metering, Time of Use (TOU) pricing and Demand Response (DR) control
• Multiple Smart Phone applications (iPhone and Blackberry) to find unoccupied stations and navigate to them
• The lowest operating cost possible due to real-time operational monitoring, alerts, diagnosis, and control of millions of stations

As an active promoter of electrifying transportation, Hydro-Québec eagerly accepted to participate in the project: "Hydro-Québec will be present throughout the planning and implementation of the plug-in charging infrastructure that will be necessary when EVs hit the mass market in Québec," said Pierre-Luc Desgagné, Senior Director, Strategic Planning and Government Affairs with Hydro-Quebec. "We are very pleased to see businesses actively supporting electric transportation and to be contributing to Le Centre Sheraton Montreal's unique initiative."

Le Centre Sheraton Montreal thanks Hydro-Québec for their collaboration and support towards the installation of the charging units. 

About Coulomb Technologies, Inc.

Coulomb Technologies is the leader in electric vehicle charging systems and application services, with the ChargePoint Network now operating in 14 countries, and Network Operations Centers in the U.S., London, and Hong Kong. Coulomb provides a vehicle-charging infrastructure, with an open system driver network: the ChargePoint Network provides multiple web-based portals for Hosts, Fleet managers, Drivers, and Utilities, and ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations ranging in capability from 120 Volt to 240 Volt AC charging and up to 500 Volt DC charging. For more information, follow Coulomb on Twitter at twitter.com/coulombevi. To request a charging station in your area, visit www.mychargepoint.net/request-station.php. To download the ChargePoint iPhone App, click here.  

About Starwood Hotels & Resorts

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 1025 properties in 100 countries and territories with 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft®, and Element ^SM.  Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.

For further information:

Cynthia Bond/Dan Young
Starwood Canada
416/947-4827   416/947-4948

Didier Luneau
Le Centre Sheraton
514/878-2081

Stanton Singh
Sheraton Centre Toronto
416/947-4942

Anne Smith
Coulomb Technologies, Inc.
408/313-8089

Stacey Masson
Hydro-Québec
514/289-2311