Electric car charging network Ecotality finds buyer
The assets of the long-struggling Ecotality electric-car charging network have a buyer.
罢丑别听聽Charging Group announced it has purchased Ecotality's Blink network of charging stations for $3.3 million.
The purchase includes approximately 12,450 240-volt Level 2 charging stations, 110 DC quick-charging stations, and other assets pertaining to the operation of the network.
Two Ecotality branches--Minit-Charger and Etec Labs--were not included in the sale.聽
Minit-Charger manufactures quick-charging systems for commercial applications, and Etec Labs conducts tests for the government and OEMs. They were purchased by Access Control and Intertek, respectively.
贰肠辞迟补濒颈迟测听聽last month, but it had been in trouble for some time before that.
Among other challenges, the Blink charging stations were rated聽than those provided by the ChargePoint network, according to a study by Tom Saxton of Plug-In America.
Ecotality subsequently聽--representing virtually its entire network--to fix manufacturing and design defects.
The bulk of Ecotality's revenues were derived from the EV Project, a Federally-funded program that provided free public charging for a limited time to gather data on drivers' behavior,聽, and charging patterns.
The company would have had to find a major聽source of revenue as the EV Project wound down, but its failure to meet certain contract obligations saw the Department of Energy suspend its payments in August.
Nissan pumped $1.25 million into Ecotality to keep it afloat. Hundreds of Leaf plug-in car drivers use the Blink network's Level 2 and DC quick charging stations regularly.
Ecotality currently owes the DOE $6.5 million, and has two cost-sharing grants with the agency totaling $126.6 million,聽reports. Its total debt is estimated at around $500 million.
Ecotality's Blink network isn't the first electric-car charging network to be bought by the Car Charging Group.
Earlier this year, the company acquired Beam Charging, EVPass, and 350Green in an effort to expand its network.
In its existing network, Car Charging uses charging stations manufactured by ChargePoint; it has agreements with dozens of organizations to provide public electric-car charging at retail locations,聽, and other locations.
