ECOtality grabs another fast charger co.

ECOtality (OTC: ETLY), a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based renewable energy company, said today it would acquire Irvine, Calif.'s Minit-Charger, a fast charging subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), for $3 million in cash and stock.

Minit-Charger makes a line of battery fast chargers for lift trucks and material handling systems used in warehouses around North America.

The move comes less than a month after ECOtality grabbed eTec of Phoenix, Ariz., another fast charging group, for $6.25 million in cash and stock (see ECOtality racks up third acquisition of the year).

"Electro-centric solutions are going to be applicable to all forms of transportation," Jonathan Read, president and CEO of ECOtality, told the Cleantech Group.

But the major drawback for electric vehicles is the long recharge cycles.

"The technologies that we're acquiring, and the companies we're acquiring, and the manufacturing we're acquiring, it gives us an absolute leg up in terms of producing what's almost a paradigm shifting delivery system for recharging vehicles," he said.

This marks the fourth deal of the year for ECOtality, which focuses on rolling up green, electric technology companies.

In October, ECOtality closed its purchase of Innergy Power, a San Diego, Calif.-based maker of solar panels and rechargeable lead batteries, and in June, the company bought the Fuel Cell Store, a fuel cell manufacturer and online retailer headquartered in Boulder, Colo.

Minit-Charger, which has 25 employees, was founded in 1998 and acquired by Edison in June 2000. But Read said utilities, particularly in California, are getting squeezed by regulators to go back into their core businesses, creating an opportunity for ECOtality to roll up another electric business.

ECOtality said Minit-Charger, which has generated over $40 million product sales and earned $5.16 million in revenues for the trailing twelve month period ending Sept. 30, 2007, would be managed by its new eTec subsidiary once the acquisition closes.

The Minit-Charger deal is expected to be complete within the next seven days.

The transaction combines Minit-Charger's system, which is used in the U.S. and Canada by companies including Home Depot, Con Agra, Ford, Toyota and Costco, with eTec's SuperCharge line of fast chargers for airport ground support equipment, used in 13 airports in North America.

Read said both fast charging systems recognize all types of batteries.

Read, who has plans to make the recharging technology available for consumer vehicles, said drivers could one day get a charge up for their cars when they go shopping.

"The back of the house on Home Depot is running on Minit-Charger. That same product, that Minit-Charger product is available front of the house for the customers, to recharge their Volt, get their 100 miles of electric power with a 15 minute charge, that would be congruous with their trip to the Home Depot to pick up their nails and pipe," he said.

ECOtality said there are currently more than 1,000 Minit-Charger systems in operation, powering over 3,000 lift trucks in North America.

"Building the infrastructure out for it is relatively inexpensive. It's not like hydrogen. You don't have to pipe it in, there's electricity at almost every location in the world," said Read.

There are some electric vehicle incentives in the latest version of the proposed U.S. energy bill (seeU.S. Congress to look at $21B energy tax package), but Read sees some indirect incentives that could happen on a local level as the cars become more popular.

"I think that you'll find public charging stations that are municipally funded," he said. "While this is a perfect commercial application, it also makes sense for municipalities to lead in things like meter cars, their fleets that they run short-term and short-range."

ECOtality, which started out in 1999 as a hydrogen fuel cell developer, has plans to make all of its acquisitions work together.

"There is ultimately going to be a package in there," said Read. "If you were to look at a total solution for a warehouse, which usually are hundreds of thousands of square feet, with large flat roofs, to have an all-electric fleet might be a great utilization of those large flat roofs, with solar power atop them."

Read, who said there a number of deals they're looking at for next year, said ECOtality expects a revenue and earnings positive 2008.

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