Eaton and GridPoint Deliver Enhanced Infrastructure Management for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

ARLINGTON, Va., April 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation and GridPoint, Inc., an established leader in smart energy solutions, today announced an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) software licensing collaboration to deliver networking monitoring and intelligent charging applications for Eaton's electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) offering. Eaton is developing a complete line of charging stations across residential, commercial and industrial applications in North America.

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"Eaton's collaboration with GridPoint will enable us to expand our efforts to build the electric vehicle charging infrastructure for customers throughout North America," said Tom Schafer, vice president and general manager, Eaton Corporation's Electrical Sector. "GridPoint's proven EV management technology will simplify charging by collecting, analyzing and presenting information that will support this exciting new technology."

Leading utilities and fleet owners throughout North America have been deploying GridPoint's electric vehicle management software since 2007 to monitor and manage their electric vehicle fleets, gaining valuable insight into charging impact, effectiveness, and costs. GridPoint's technology enables not only intelligent control and management of charging hardware, but also the rich data capture and integration capabilities critical in a rapidly evolving market. It supports multiple revenue models and offers charging control capabilities for participation in demand response and other utility programs.

"Eaton is well positioned to provide superior products to multiple markets, and we are delighted to work together to incorporate intelligence at the point of charge. This is critical to linking vehicles into the utility grid and will offer multiple benefits to EV and charging station owners, including lower fuel costs and higher ROI," said Patrick Mayworm, senior vice president, GridPoint.

Eaton, a global power management leader with comprehensive facilities, field service and support, has been developing electrical and hybrid power systems for trucks and buses for more than 20 years. Eaton offers hybrid-electric, as well as two hybrid hydraulic power system technologies, and the charging infrastructure for commercial and residential applications.

Eaton is currently working to advance the electric vehicle charging infrastructure in California, Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Illinois, Ontario, and many other communities across North America. Eaton has a wide range of expertise in other markets that use free-standing electrical charging, including truck-stop electrification, ports, marinas, recreational vehicles, government, and major public-sector infrastructure. For more information, visit http://www.eaton.com/plugin.

About Eaton

Eaton Corporation is a diversified power management company with 2010 sales of $13.7 billion. Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2011, Eaton is a global technology leader in electrical components and systems for power quality, distribution and control; hydraulics components, systems and services for industrial and mobile equipment; aerospace fuel, hydraulics and pneumatic systems for commercial and military use; and truck and automotive drivetrain and powertrain systems for performance, fuel economy and safety. Eaton has approximately 70,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit www.eaton.com.

About GridPoint

GridPoint is committed to building a clean, efficient energy future.  We empower key stakeholders in the energy ecosystem with the visibility and control required to more efficiently consume, generate and distribute energy.  Our smart energy solutions combine software, hardware and services that integrate, aggregate and manage distributed sources of energy consumption, generation and storage.  An enterprise-class software platform provides a shared foundation for our products, creating a common point of integration, asset provisioning and real-time management.  GridPoint customers include Fortune 100 retail and restaurant chains and leading North American utilities.  For more information, please visit www.gridpoint.com

SOURCE GridPoint