Liberty Access Technologies Delivers Innovative Electric Bus Charging Solution for PG&E

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— Liberty Access Technologies is working on a pilot project for PG&E on an innovative eco-friendly approach to charging electric buses for the Pittsburg Unified School District (PUSD) that will support the school district’s electrification and clean energy goals.

Through the pilot, PG&E has funded and installed eight new electric bus chargers to facilitate charging of eight electric buses. In conjunction, PUSD installed 200 kilowatts of onsite solar systems to power their administrative buildings and bus depot. With the school district, PG&E will test cost-effective ways for PUSD to incorporate clean, renewable electricity when charging each bus in order to lower the total overall cost of ownership and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

The pilot will be a test case for PG&E’s new FleetReady program, recently approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. Through the program, PG&E is funding and aiding in the installation of the infrastructure from the electric grid to the charger for customers with medium-duty, heavy-duty and off-road fleets such as transit agencies, school districts, and delivery fleets.

Liberty provides the charging infrastructure management tools required to successfully integrate renewable energy systems with the clean transportation methods needed to meet California’s climate goals.

Integrating Renewable Energy with EV Charging

The focus on electric transportation for medium- to heavy-duty vehicles, such as school buses, helps to address air pollution. While electric buses are a viable option, transitioning to electric transportation requires careful planning. With a unique operating schedule, school buses have an opportunity to take advantage of distributed renewables, such as wind and solar to charge during the day.

Liberty is working with PG&E to develop a novel charge management platform that can optimize charging for cost and optimizing renewables. This partnership will ensure PG&E and PUSD are able to successfully integrate renewable energy systems with the clean transportation methods needed to meet California’s climate goals. Upon development the platform will test several charging scenarios to help lower total cost of ownership of electric transportation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the school district:

  • Charging when there is a high amount of renewables forecast to be on the grid
  • Charging using only the onsite solar and wind energy the school installed
  • Optimizing the charging across the grid and the district’s onsite renewables to enable the PUSD to use the most low-cost, clean energy available while ensuring the buses are fully charged for each school day

Liberty is able to leverage its existing grid and carbon-friendly technology to allow bus and fleet charging operators to optimize when and how they charge in order to achieve the environmental and financial goals,” explained Michael Keane, Liberty’s CTO.

About Liberty Access Technologies

Liberty Access Technologies (LAT) specializes in access control systems for electric vehicle charging in the parking industry, fleet EV and multi-tenant dwellings. LAT’s patented Synchronous Code Generation technology enables secure charging without expensive networks, and the Hydra Multi EVSE Control system enables cost-effective large scale EV charging solutions for workplace and multi-tenant. Our mission is to use our patented technology to enable our customers to control access and costs and reduce electricity consumption via our “grid-aware” technology.