Voyager Capital hasn't made many bets in the clean technology arena. But that's changing today with the Seattle venture capital firm leading an investment in Coulomb Technologies, a Campbell, Calif.-based company that is developing a worldwide network of electric vehicle charging stations.

Voyager, along with Rho Ventures, is leading a $14 million investment in the company. Other investors include Siemens Venture Capital and Hartford Ventures. As a result of the deal, Daniel Ahn of Voyager Capital and Mark Leschly of Rho have joined the board.

Coulomb opened its first charging station -- operating under the ChargePoint name -- in 2008 in San Jose, California. It most recently opened other facilities Detroit, Lincoln City, Oregon and Honolulu, with the company saying that it plans to have more than 1,000 stations up and running this year.

“Coulomb is the early market leader in the race to provide EV charging infrastructure from both a software technology and market share standpoint,” said Ahn in a release issued this morning. “We believe that for these reasons, Coulomb will be able to maintain a substantial, sustainable competitive advantage over time, and build a significant business in a large potential market.”

The company is targeting both municipalities and corporations who are looking for electric vehicle charging facilities for their fleets. Customers include McDonalds, Dell and Reliant Energy, while cities such as San Francisco, Houston, Amsterdam and Chicago also have installed the systems. The ChargePoint stations have capability from 120 Volt to 240 Volt AC charging and up to 500 Volt DC charging.

In the Pacific Northwest, Hillsboro, Oregon last summer became the first city in Oregon to announce plans for the Coulomb electric vehicle charging stations.

"We have a large forward-thinking population ready to embrace electric vehicle technology and the City is committed to providing the facilities to meet the public's demand," said David Robinson, director of Facilities and Fleet for the City of Hillsboro, at the time.

The company also operates a ChargePoint station in Bellingham, the only installation in Washington state.