WASHINGTON - Siemens announced that it is one of the first companies awarded a General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule 56 contract to provide Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations to the U.S. Government.

A total of 20 Siemens EV charging stations will be deployed to Veterans Affairs facilities in California and Michigan by the EV Infrastructure business of the Siemens Infrastructure & Cities sector. The EV charging station on the GSA Schedule is the Community Level II designed for public outdoor applications.

Siemens' charging stations offer cloud-based EV charging services via the ChargePoint Network, the largest network of independently owned charging stations in the world. ChargePoint Network is used by organizations that want to attract large numbers of EV drivers to their charging stations, manage their charging services, set up fees, automate payment processing and collect and track charging data. Drivers use ChargePoint Network and its three mobile apps for iPhone, Android and Blackberry to: find charging stations, see if a station is available or in use, get turn-by-turn directions, check station pricing and even make station reservations.

"Siemens is committed to helping the Federal government achieve unprecedented levels of energy efficiency and independence, enhanced service to the citizens of this nation and a modernized infrastructure for today and the future," said Judy Marks, president and CEO of Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. "The GSA Schedule 56 award is proof positive of our commitment to providing smart, safe and simple infrastructure solutions to charge electric vehicles for the federal fleet." 

The Siemens EV charging station purchase represents an embrace of the Obama Administration's directive that the federal government lead by example in fuel efficiency and innovative technology. Under Executive Order 13514 signed by President Obama in October 2009, sustainability goals have been set to reduce the country's dependence on oil imports by one-third by 2025 and putting one million alternative fuel vehicles on the road.

The U.S. government operates the largest vehicle fleet in the country. Over the past two years, GSA has doubled the Federal hybrid fleet without increasing the total number of vehicles. The resulting improvement in fleet fuel efficiency is expected to annually save almost 2,900 gallons of gas, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 275 metric tons and save taxpayers almost $116,000 in fuel costs.