New kind of charge at Plaza

South Coast Plaza plans to become the first shopping center in the nation to provide electric vehicle charging stations.

The shopping destination teamed up with Campbell, Calif.-based Coulomb Technologies to provide so-called ChargePoint stations for its customers.

“We’re incredibly excited,” said Beverly Morgan, South Coast Plaza spokeswoman. “We’ve been demonstrating environmental leadership, I think, for quite some time, and it’s so exciting to us to be the first shopping center in the U.S. to offer this Coulomb Technologies network to our customers.”

The charging stations are scheduled to be installed next week and will be in the lower level parking structure near the Crate & Barrel home store on Bear Street.

The stations will be added to a network of Coulomb charging stations nationwide. While shopping, electric vehicle customers can drop off their cars to be charged at the station. Once charging is completed, customers can be notified via text message.

“We’ve been researching electric vehicle charging stations for a while,” Morgan said. “We wanted to be sure that what we install has leading-edge technology and would be compatible with electric vehicles debuting in 2010.”

It’s also another way for South Coast Plaza to encourage green commerce. The shopping center has drought-tolerant plants and irrigates a third of its landscaping with reclaimed water.

“We are proud to lead by example,” Morgan said. “We’re demonstrating that we want to be part of an environmentally responsible lifestyle.”

The charging stations will be unveiled at 3 p.m. April 24 at 3333 Bear St. Actor-environmentalist Ed Begley Jr., co-star of the Planet Green series, “Living with Ed,” plans to attend the ceremony.