BMW buys a piece of company that makes electric car charging stations

BMW is making what it describes as a "strategic investment" in Coulomb Technologies, which makes the ChargePoint electric car charging system to .

ChargePoint currently connect electric vehicle drivers to charging stations in more than 14 countries worldwide, and claims to be the world's largest system.

The investment by BMW will help speed the development of an electric infrastructure for plug-in electric vehicles around the world. BMW is launching two EVs, the i3 'city car' and the larger i8 luxury sedan, within the next couple of years.

The BMW announcement follows by just a few weeks the announcement by Mercedes-Benz that it is investing 40 million Euros to build a network of stations across Germany to refuel hydrogen fuel cell cars. The Mercedes-Benz F-Cell compact already is on the road both in Europe and in the United States.

In addition to making the charging stations, ChargePoint software service shelp drivers manage charging services, including the ability to locate and reserve stations, process payments, and more.