Client Spotlight: Clovis Unified School District

Overview

Many school districts across the nation are making significant progress towards sustainability goals through electrification. Clovis Unified School District, the 14th largest school district in California serving more than 43,000 students in Fresno County, aimed to reduce its environmental impact and transportation costs by transitioning to electric school buses. In November 2020, Liberty Plugins implemented a combination of 11 80A/19.2kW fast Level-2 Enphase chargers and two 50kW DC fast chargers (DCFC) equipped with Liberty’s Hydra™ charge station management system (CSMS.) The Liberty Plugins and Clovis Unified partnership demonstrates that a hardware-based CSMS is the ideal solution to modernize fleet operations in a cost-effective way, while supporting growing electric school bus fleets.

Challenge

Less than one percent of students in the United States are transported to school by electric buses, despite the significant health and environmental benefits associated with electrified transportation. While great strides have been made to implement electric school bus fleets – with California leading the charge – school districts are often faced with high barriers to entry. These include expensive upfront costs associated with transitioning diesel fleets to new electric fleets and depot upgrades; reroutes, schedule disruptions, and frequent charging stops leading to suboptimal transportation efficiency; and the possible need for infrastructure upgrades to avoid overloading local grid systems.

Clovis Unified required an affordable charging infrastructure capable of accommodating rapid charging for its fleet of nine buses and future expansion. The fleet charging solution also had to meet several key criteria to maintain compliance with regulatory, district, and utility requirements, including:

 

  • Adherence to California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) reporting to facilitate Carbon Credits reimbursement
  • Detailed reporting of charging usage to local utility providers who would fund EVSE installations
  • A solution that avoids the high cost of individual DC fast chargers for each charging port

Solution

Liberty Plugins provided Clovis Unified with turn-key charge station solutions that satisfied the school district’s project, financial, and sustainability requirements. Installed in November 2020, Liberty Plugins implemented a combination of 11 80A/19.2kW Level 2 Enphase chargers and 50kW DCFCs equipped with Liberty’s Hydra™ CSMS.

The Hydra™ gateway and network provided Clovis Unified with a streamlined platform for controlling, monitoring, and reporting of all charging stations. The district has been able to continually optimize school bus routes by tracking charger status and energy consumption in real time. Liberty’s solution also significantly reduced infrastructure costs compared to a full DC fast charger deployment, as the system allowed for seamless integration and management of EV chargers (a capability available regardless of charger brand or model.)

Liberty’s Hydra™ is the heart of the industry’s only hardware-based charge station management system: a single Hydra™ enables access control, revenue-grade metering, reporting, and load management for up to 10x Level-2 chargers. Hydra™ gives system designers and owners the freedom to convert existing chargers into capable smart chargers, or to make custom arrangements of new Level-2 and DC fast-charge EVSE to meet their specific needs.

Impact of Liberty Plugins' Partnership with Clovis Unified

Charging an EV bus in a fleet at Clovis School Disctrict.

The school bus electrification movement will be led by forward-thinking school districts like Clovis Unified, deploying electric school bus fleets powered by charge stations equipped with flexible, cost-effective, and hardware-based management systems. Liberty Plugins was the first and only provider capable of integrating Clovis Unified’s diverse charging equipment into one fleet EV charging management platform.

The Liberty Plugins and Clovis Unified partnership – fueled by Liberty’s 15-year history of innovating cutting-edge EV CSMS technology, along with the school district’s commitment to a quality educational system that meets the academic, physical, and social needs of students – is a testament that electrifying student transportation can be flexible, economical, and accessible.

Discover Our Innovative Charging Solutions

Unlock the potential of your electric vehicle fleet with Liberty Plugins’ state-of-the-art charging solutions. Whether you’re looking to enhance efficiency or expand your infrastructure, our team is ready to assist. Reach out now to explore how we can power your transition to a sustainable future.


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