A charging system from Rhombus Energy Solutions has been commissioned in a Vehicle to Grid (V2G) production deployment involving Blue Bird school buses and Nuurve's aggregation platform.
The Rhombus charging solution includes a charger which provides up to 60kW of DC power under full rated load in continuous operation and a corresponding dispenser.
Rhombus says the dispenser can be remotely operated up to 500 feet from the charger allowing the chargers to be located near the incoming utility power feed, which reduces costs.
The dispensers can be located next the vehicles, the company adds.
Rhombus insists combining its chargers with electric buses and a V2G platform allows fleet operators to put power back in the grid during high peak hours, and then re-charge during off-peak times.
School bus fleet operators can also provide emergency power to buildings during power outages, the company adds.
Trevor Rudderham, senior vice president of electrification at Blue Bird, says: “The electrification of school buses is critical to the efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and particulate emissions, while reducing energy and maintenance costs versus diesel buses."
"Rhombus Energy Solutions’ bi-directional DC fast chargers amplify these advantages of electric buses by enabling Vehicle to Grid operation, which further reduces vehicle energy costs and can help with utility grid resiliency.”
