Coulomb Technologies, which builds charging stations for electric cars, announced Monday that it raised $3.75 million in a first round of venture funding led by Estag Capital.

The funding will help the Campbell, California, startup continue research and development and expand the roll out of its charging stations, CEO Richard Lowenthal said.

These charging stations are metallic cylinders no more than a few feet tall and costing less than $3,000 that can be mounted curbside to street lamps or against walls in parking garages. The company predicts that as electric vehicles become more popular in coming years, drivers will need more places to recharge their cars’ drained batteries. That demand will prompt businesses and owners of apartment complexes—anywhere where a car can’t be easily connected to a standard electric outlet—to install recharging facilities.

Cities, too, are a potential market, especially those that want a greener image, Mr. Lowenthal said. The City of San Jose in California has installed four stations, and the Coulomb chief executive said he is negotiating with twelve other cities.

But Coulomb isn’t the only company jockeying to benefit from the expected increased demand for battery recharging. Palo Alto, California-based Better Place has been busy cutting deals with governments around the world—most recently Ontario, Canada—to build networks of battery-swapping centers.

Mr. Lowenthal said his company is different because it doesn’t own the charging stations. “We are more like a Cisco,” he said. “We design and engineer a box, and we have partners out there installing them.”

Coulomb’s stations also are wirelessly networked so that subscribers to the service can use any station, anywhere. These subscribers will pay a monthly fee, from $9 to $80 depending on how often they expect to use the service.

Nearly 90 percent of the company’s revenue will come from selling the recharging stations, Mr. Lowenthal said. The startup—which has sold 100 stations and expects to sell 1000 more this year—will also take a small portion of users’ subscriptions fees. The majority of those fees, however, will go to the businesses, cities or apartment building owners who buy and install the stations.

But early adopters will have to wait until 2010 before they collect any subscription fees. In order to spark interest, Coulomb is letting customers recharge for free throughout 2009.

Coulomb was founded in 2007 by Mr. Lowenthal, who with other angel investors initially financed the company. Mr. Lowenthal previously founded Stratacom, a networking equipment company that was bought by Cisco in 1996.