As communities across North America drive toward 100% clean transportation, Proterra, a company that specializes in heavy-duty electric transportation, has unveiled its new, high-powered charging solution that is designed to enable the electrification of large-scale vehicle fleets.
Developed in partnership with Power Electronics, a company that specializes in the design, development, manufacturing and service of power conversion technology, the new Proterra charging systems offer transit agencies and fleet operators a customizable vehicle charging solution.
Proterra’s new charging systems can be configured at a broad range of power levels. For large fleets of vehicles, where customers need to address the challenge of charging dozens or hundreds of vehicles in a single fleet yard, Proterra’s new charging systems can be configured with up to 1.5 MW to power up to 20 vehicles simultaneously. The new Proterra 1.5 MW fleet-scale charging system can also tie directly into higher voltage utility power lines (up to 35 kV) which avoids the footprint and complication of costly switchgear. The chargers will also be able to meet the needs of smaller electric vehicle fleets, with 75 kW, 150 kW, 250 kW and 500 kW power levels.
The new chargers utilize interoperable, universal charging technology and are equipped to power a diverse range of 100% battery-electric vehicles, including battery-electric transit buses, school buses, delivery vans, coach buses and other commercial vehicles. The chargers are also capable of powering personal passenger electric vehicles.
“Cities, states, schools, airports and many more are going all-in on zero-emission transportation,” says Jack Allen, CEO of Proterra. “Large-scale charging infrastructure will play a vital role in achieving important transportation electrification goals. Proterra is excited to work with Power Electronics to help fuel this transition with our new, next-generation charging systems.”
The new chargers are available as both overhead and plug-in options, offering greater flexibility and optionality for customers. In addition, the systems feature bi-directional power flow that enables chargers to be smart-grid ready for vehicle-to-grid applications. All Proterra systems can incorporate multi-dispensers which can reduce the overall space, cost and aggregate power levels needed by a fleet yard. When coupled with the 1.5 MW charging system, the multi-dispenser capability enables up to 40 vehicles to charge sequentially, one after the other at full power.
Leveraging Power Electronics’ technology, the new chargers have the capability to interconnect with stationary solar+storage to provide fleet operators with a clean, resilient source of power for their vehicles.
Full specifications for the new Proterra charging systems can be found, here.