Cincinnati-headquartered school transportation provider First Student has introduced its First Charge above-ground EV charging system, which is designed to offer greater efficiency and up to 50% lower construction costs.
Even in colder climates, the system eliminates the need for expensive trenching to bury cables, which is disruptive and limits future expansion.
The system can support up to 25 electric school buses per power-management module. It can also be used for last-mile services for such EVs as dump trucks, garbage trucks, and postal or delivery trucks. The company pairs First Charge with an energy management charging as a service (CaaS) offering. The CaaS offering handles energy procurement, charging management and fleet maintenance,
“For school districts who want to or need to electrify their bus fleets without spending years building infrastructure or constraining their capital budgets, this kind of modular approach is faster, more affordable and handles expansion better than existing systems,” said First Student CEO John Kenning.
Source: First Student