As more school systems around the country make the transition to electric school buses, it is important to keep in mind the Three Rules of Electric Buses:
1. Electric buses only run when they are charged.
2. Electric buses only run when they are charged.
3. Electric buses only run when they are charged.
Keeping electric buses charged and ready to go requires reliable and efficient charge management system. You need dependable chargers that can deliver the needed charging during the narrow window buses have to be charged.
But picking the right charger is only the first step to charging reliability. That’s because humans are involved. Humans have to connect the buses to the chargers when the buses return to the depot. And humans are fallible. They make mistakes.
Which is why you need a robust, easy to operate charge management system ("CMS").
You need a CMS that monitors the connection between bus and charger and immediately notifies you if there is a problem with the connection.
You need a CMS that monitors your charging system even when your buses are on the road to let you know if there is a problem.
You need a CMS that automatically adjusts your charging patterns after a power outage to ensure your buses are ready to go when they are needed and also gives you the option to adjust your charging patterns when there is a forecast of severe weather that could impact your power supply.
You need a CMS that continues to manage and monitor your charging when the power is flowing but the internet goes down.
If your CMS doesn’t do these things, you’re opening yourself up to future problems that will keep the buses from rolling when you – and the kids -- need them.
The good news is that the EVauto charge management system is designed to do all of these things – and more – to deliver charging reliability.
But reliability is only one leg of the stool. To operate at peak charging efficiency, your charging infrastructure needs to be flexible as well as reliable. Why? Because there are a lot of good chargers out there, but they don’t all speak the same language. Some use OCPP. Some use Modbus. Some use OPC-UA. Your charge management system should be able to speak all of their languages, giving you the flexibility to select the mix of chargers (and protocols) which best fit your charging needs.
Chargers not only speak different languages, they charge and communicate at different speeds. Installing a mix of slow and fast chargers can give you the flexibility to meet changing school system needs or unexpected ones. Your charging control software should be able to handle both slow and fast chargers at the same time.
Your charging control software should also have the flexibility to handle multiple power sources. Many school districts are developing their own micro-grids, using a combination of solar generation and battery storage to provide an alternative to the local utility. Your CMS should have the ability to seamlessly manage a switch to your onsite power sources when the local utility experiences an outage.
EVauto charge management software was developed to deliver this kind of flexibility so you can select and deploy the charging solutions which work best for your electric school bus fleet. Because when it comes to school systems and EV fleets, EVauto wants to deliver the reliability and flexibility that ensures the wheels of the (electric) bus will continue to go ‘round and ‘round.