The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) has won a $6-million grant from the California Energy Commission to install an EV fleet charging system that will be powered by a microgrid incorporating solar panels and storage.

Earlier this year, Proterra delivered its 25th ZX5 battery-electric transit bus to LADOT in support of the agency’s transition to a fully electric fleet. LADOT currently operates 29 electric buses, and expects to deploy 30 more by summer 2022.

LADOT selected Proterra and grid control specialist Apparent to install the microgrid at the agency’s Washington Bus Yard, where it will manage EV charging and overall energy use for over 100 electric buses. The project will also be able to provide emergency back-up power that will enable the agency to continue to operate in an outage.

LADOT will deploy 1.5 MW of rooftop- and canopy-mounted solar generation, paired with a 4.5 MWh energy storage system provided by Apparent, to help power five Proterra 1.5 MW fleet chargers with 104 remote EV charging dispensers. The microgrid will use Apparent’s intelligent grid operating system (igOS) to integrate Proterra Energy’s charging infrastructure with energy generation in order to coordinate how and when the buses are charged with energy generated from solar, or drawn from storage or the grid.

“Transit agencies and fleet operators need resilient, reliable charging solutions to help power the switch to electric fleets,” said Gareth Joyce, President of Proterra. “This innovative project is a model for how we can power commercial electric vehicle fleets with renewable energy solutions.”

Source: Proterra