Podcast: ChargePoint CEO Pasquale Romano on its nationwide EV charging network

 

CBS News Tech Analyst Larry Magid sits down with ChargePoint CEO Pasquale Romano to talk about car charging at home, at work and on the road.

ChargePoint CEO Pasquale Romano

With the exception of Tesla, no car company yet has its own extensive charging network. There are several companies that provide public chargers that any electric car owner can use. The biggest of these networks is run by ChargePoint, a Campbell-based company whose CEO, Pasquale Romano, refers to as “the platform provider” that offers both the charging hardware and the online infrastructure to manage and monitor charging.

ChargePoint makes home charging units that start at about $550 as well as a large network of chargers owned and operated by businesses and municipalities for the benefit of employees or the public.

Anyone who owns one of these public chargers can set their own rules and prices. Many are owned by companies and are free to use by employees and visitors. A few weeks ago I used a ChargePoint charger for free while I was visiting Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino and likewise at Facebook in Menlo Park, but I had to pay 23 cents a kilowatt hour (about six cents a mile) to use the ChargePoint charger at the Mitchell Park Library in Palo Alto. I know of one church that offers free charging, truly bringing a greater power to its parishioner.

The ChargePoint smartphone app manages usage including unlocking the cable and billing at public chargers that charge a fee and monitoring your use of a ChargePoint home charger.

ChargePoint home charger

In an interview (embedded above), Romano, acknowledge that “Tesla is ahead in a coordinated deployment” of chargers but that the networks of third-party public chargers are growing rapidly along with both in-car and smartphone apps that enable users to easily find these chargers. Last week, ChargePoint announced an alliance with another large charging network, Electrify America, to connect more than 30,000 chargers from both companies, “to make it easier for drivers of any electric vehicle to find and use public chargers.”

Tesla’s in-car display makes it easy to find its SuperChargers, but Romano said that other car manufacturers will be offering similar technology to locate chargers on the ChargePoint and other public networks.

The growth of these third-party networks should make it a lot easier for drivers of any model electric cars to confidently embark on road trips without having to worry about being stranded. When it comes to daily commutes, most people charge overnight at home and many also use ChargePoint or other shared chargers to top-off at work.

Of course, there are other charging networks worth considering. Here’s a link to The Ultimate Guide to Electric Car Charging Networks