TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2013 AT 5:22PM

SAN FRANCISCO and HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Jan. 29, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)

ECOtality, Inc., and Sears Holdings recently expanded their relationship and also unveiled the first Blink(R) Direct Current (DC) Fast Charger stations at several Sears stores in Tennessee and Arizona. These stations enable Sears customers to charge an electric vehicle battery up to 80 percent capacity in less than 30 minutes — the fastest charge rate currently available.

“Our relationship with Sears will benefit businesses and communities alike,” said Ravi Brar, CEO of ECOtality. “By continuing to install Blink charging stations at new locations, Sears shows its commitment to clean energy with the added benefit of attracting an upscale and loyal consumer that research shows spends more time in store than the average customer. We are delighted to work with such an iconic brand.”

As part of The EV Project, ECOtality worked closely with Sears during the site selection process, evaluating key factors such as store traffic, EV density and availability of the unique DC stations.

Currently, five fast charging sites have been installed and there is continued effort to expand opportunities further.

In addition to the fast chargers, Sears Holdings has implemented level 2 charging stations at 12 additional Sears stores. With these in place, the company exceeded 2,000 hours of connection time by customers and associates.

Sears in now installing EV Chargers. They’re coming to ya!!

“Sears Holdings is proud to do our part in driving clean energy and we look forward to continuing our work with ECOtality,” said Rajan Penkar, Senior Vice President and President, Supply Chain, for Sears Holdings.

“We are delighted to see that the EV Charging stations are already offering a valuable service to our customers. Also communities and associates. So we are excited to see how many hours charging we can achieve in 2013.”

Blink DC Fast charging stations are powerful and unique machines. Not only do they charge an EV at an adaptable 60 kW rate. However they offer dual ports. So the UL certified charger features two interactive touch screens and a 42” color display to allow for media and messaging. With real time communication capabilities. So the Blink DC Fast Charger supports energy usage data evaluation with an internal energy meter.

Source: ECOtality, Inc. http://www.ecotality.com, The EV Project, http://www.theevproject.com and Sears Holdings Corporation