Ocean View School District in Oxnard, Calif., has selected The Mobility House, a company that integrates electric vehicles into the power grid, to provide smart charging for the district’s new electric bus fleet project, construction for which is now complete.
The project consists of four electric buses and four BTCPower chargers, funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and Ventura County Air Pollution Control District as well as electrical charging infrastructure provided by Southern California Edison. The Mobility House’s ChargePilot charging and energy management system will harmonize Ocean View School District’s bus schedules, travel routes, battery life and local utility rates to deliver clean transportation at the lowest cost to the district.
“Ocean View School District is to be commended for demonstrating what’s possible for other districts in the county around the future of clean school bus transportation,” says Zoheb Davar, business development director for The Mobility House. “Our smart charging technology approach aligned fully with the project goals of creating an electric bus fleet that can grow over time. Now the district has the broadest options for future integration of different charging hardware infrastructure knowing our interoperable charging management system will interface smoothly.”
The school district is one of the first in Southern California Edison’s Charge Ready Transport Program, which provided funding for new infrastructure such as upgrading the local transformer, adding a panel and meter, laying conduit and trenching, and a 50% rebate for the chargers.
By deploying The Mobility House’s ChargePilot system, Ocean View School District will benefit from scheduled charging times that avoid time-of-use (TOU) rate charges, saving tens of thousands of dollars in the coming years, and also ensure timely student pickup and dropoff without concern over battery range. ChargePilot also provides a proactive alerting system that mitigates charging issues as well as collects charger usage data in compliance with the CEC grant requirement.
To learn more about The Mobility House charging and energy management solutions, click here.
Photo: Thomas Raffeiner, founder and CEO of The Mobility House