Santa Monica DOT Invests $56 Million in Electric Bus Charging Infrastructure

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Santa Monica Department of Transportation has invested $56 million to advance the zero-emission transition of its public transit fleet, planning to fully replace the Big Blue Bus fleet with electric buses within six years. To this end, it has selected ChargePoint and Eaton as electric mobility partners to provide electric vehicle charging and power infrastructure.

The project is expected to achieve full integration by 2026, deploying 130 direct current (DC) fast charging ports along with supporting power management technology. The DC fast charging ports will consist of ChargePoint's Express Plus equipment series, while Eaton will provide medium-voltage switchgear, switchboards, panelboards, and engineering services related to power flow management.

The Santa Monica Department of Transportation began construction on this electric mobility infrastructure project approximately five months ago, starting with the installation of overhead gantry charging systems capable of powering up to 195 battery-electric buses. The Big Blue Bus project currently has 34 zero-emission buses in operation.

Anuj Gupta, Director of the Santa Monica Department of Transportation, stated that the investment in clean electric mobility aims to create healthier air for the community, a quieter and more comfortable travel experience for passengers, and a safer and more efficient working environment for employees. He noted that the new charging solutions will provide reliable and affordable service for more than 10 million Big Blue Bus trips annually.

Funding for the Big Blue Bus electric vehicle expansion primarily comes from a $53.3 million grant from California's California Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program.

Paul Ryan, Vice President and General Manager of Eaton's Energy Transition division, stated that the Santa Monica project demonstrates how to help customers turn ambitious electrification goals into reality. ChargePoint CEO Rick Wilmer said the project is one of ChargePoint's largest public transit deployments to date, with scalable high-power charging solutions that can meet the complex needs of large bus fleets, helping agencies transition to all-electric operations and reduce total cost of ownership.

ChargePoint's fleet software will be used to enhance monitoring of the electric bus fleet, covering operational routes and depot scenarios, enabling real-time adjustments and reporting on sustainability outcomes. Key challenges facing electric vehicle charging include impacts on voltage and grid instability.

This is one of several power management projects Eaton is undertaking in California, having previously advanced related engineering across 35 healthcare facilities statewide. Last year, Eaton and ChargePoint announced a partnership to advance electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the United States, Canada, and Europe, jointly developing new technologies to advance bidirectional power flow and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) capabilities, technologies that can transform electric vehicles into mobile microgrids.

Executives from both companies discussed this partnership in interviews with EnergyTech.com and Microgrid Knowledge at the RE+ conference in Las Vegas last year. Ryan believes that scaling electrification requires cross-industry collaboration, and no company can do it alone. Wilmer stated that by integrating charging with the grid and vehicles in more technologically advanced ways, multiple values can be unlocked, significantly increasing the number of vehicles that can be charged within a limited footprint, saving 30% on capital expenditures, 30% on operating expenditures, and 30% on physical footprint. He added that by converting charging modes from alternating current to direct current and employing DC-DC converters, charging cabinet power can be scaled to over 1 megawatt.