Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - June 2021 - 25

Q&A
Electrify America has invested in cities
like Sacramento, where electric-powered
shuttle buses are part of its SmaRT Ride
on-demand micro-transit program.
five options for a certain target area that we want to have a
charging site in. We have different retailers and different grid
supply factors to talk about. So, we engage the utility early
on. We have conversations about these different alternatives;
which sites have available power already? But bear in mind,
we bring in our own power. We don't go on site-host power
when you're talking about a charging site with one to two or
more megawatts of power - we need to bring in our own
transformer, which means that the underlying service capacity
has to be in that general area. And the typical areas that
we locate, that power is already there. It just maybe needs to
be plumbed a little differently or a longer line.
How long does that process take?
To actually create that new service from nothing can sometimes
take five or six months, which is a long time. Our construction
will only take three to four weeks to get a site up
and running. So, we've got to bring all these things together,
but typically the utility power has not
been a factor. These are modern, highpowered
areas where available retail is
already consuming power; we're just
adding a little more to it. And typically,
the utility is happy to do that because
they're selling more load, too.
How do you future-proof a site so that
in 2030 you won't have to dig everything
up and start over?
There's two ways to look at future-proofing.
One is the charger itself, and way
back when in 2017, my business development
team, we started talking with all
the car companies to thoroughly understand
what models they're bringing into
the market. What are their voltage capabilities,
amperage? You've got mediumTRUCK
& OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
Electrify America is
increasing its push for
renewable generation
including solar
infrastructure.
" All of the challenges
that we go through in
selecting a site and
getting utility power for
light-duty passenger
cars are magnified with
heavy-duty. "
voltage cars, which predominate the market. You've got highvoltage
platforms like Lucid, like Porsche and others soon. It's
not just a number of chargers at a certain output. It's what will
they need to deliver over time? Today,
we deliver up to nearly a thousand volts
at 350 amps. With some simple changes,
we're going to be able to support
500 amps at a slightly lower voltage,
which will bring higher-kilowatt charging
to more vehicles on the market.
In terms of future-proofing a site, we
typically will go in and over a five- to
10-year period, try to forecast out EV
growth in that area. We'll start with a
certain number of sites, which are rightsized
or aligned for what we see units in
operation to be over the next few years.
But we might not go in with the absolute
largest transformer upfront, which
would increase our costs. We might
bring that in at a later point, and the
switch gear, the power electronics
June 2021 25
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - June 2021

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