Santa Barbara, CA – November 15, 2019: Liberty Access Technologies (LAT) reported they have shipped 5 HYDRA-RX AC Fast Charger Controllers to 4 school districts who are preparing to receive new electric school buses. Rescue Union School District received two HYDRA-RX systems with a total of 14 charging stations, Exeter Unified received one HYDRA-RX system with 10 chargers while Eureka Union and Calaveras Unified School Districts each received one HYDRA-RX system for 3 charging stations.
“These deliveries mark the real start of the campaign to provide our children with a clean and safe school transportation system.” Said Chris Outwater, President of LAT who added “The transition to electric school buses requires a coordinated effort on the part of utilities, charger makers, the bus OEMs, their dealers and school district transportation management. We’re proud to be in the vanguard of this rapidly growing national movement.”
The HYDRA-RX is a local controller specifically designed to control high output alternating current (AC) charging stations that provide over twice the charging power of standard AC chargers. The extra power is needed to charge the much larger battery packs of electric school buses, both overnight and also during the day when the buses are idle while school is in session.
“AC Fast Charging (ACFC) is ideal for the medium duty electric buses and trucks that travel less than 120 miles per day and are parked overnight in a central yard or depot” Mr. Outwater continued. “Using high output basic chargers provides quick recharging times at a fraction of the cost of DC Fast Chargers (DCFC).”
Mr. Outwater says another 5 school districts have committed to order the HYDRA-RX and is in discussions with at least twice that many, the result of significant funding for electric school buses coming from several state agencies such as the California Energy Commission (CEC) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) as well as several local air quality management districts including the South Coast AQMD and Bay Area AQMD. Approximately $70m from the state’s share of the Volkswagen Mitigation Fund has also been dedicated.
