Rhombus Energy Solutions Announces Commissioning of 60kW Bi-Directional Charging System in Pekin, IL Vehicle-to-Grid Deployment
Paired with Blue Bird electric school bus and Nuvve V2G aggregation software to provide electrified transportation for local school districts
SAN DIEGO, March 25, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today, Rhombus Energy Solutions is announcing that its market-leading bi-directional DC fast charger and dispenser system was commissioned this week in a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) production deployment. 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. These systems are designed so that 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 and simplifies the installation, and the dispensers to be conveniently located directly next to the vehicles. The charger and dispenser are Underwriters Laboratory (UL) certified for bi-directional operation (UL 1741-SA and UL 2202/2231, respectively), allowing them to be utilized in V2G and other vehicle-to-everything (V2X) solutions such as vehicle-to-building (V2B) or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I).
"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," said Trevor Rudderham, senior vice president of electrification at Blue Bird Corporation. "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."
V2G technology provides a means for EV fleet operators to utilize their vehicles as a source of energy storage, allowing power to be put back onto the grid during peak demand hours, or to be used to power buildings in a "behind the meter" approach. The combination of electric school buses such as those from Blue Bird, V2G aggregation platforms such as Nuvve's, and the market-leading reliability of Rhombus's high-power fast DC chargers provides school bus fleet operators with tools to significantly reduce energy costs by enabling them to put power back on the grid during high rate peak hours, and then recharging during off-peak, lower rate times. The combination also allows school bus fleet operators to provide emergency power to buildings during power outages.
"This commissioning represents a big milestone both for Rhombus and for the adoption of V2G," said Rick Sander, CEO of Rhombus Energy Solutions. "Whether the fleets consist of school buses, public transit buses, delivery vehicles, cargo drayage tractors or heavy municipal vehicles such as refuse trucks, the bi-directional capabilities of Rhombus' charging systems are game-changers. They can help boost grid resilience and emergency power capacity, whether to mitigate climate events such as the recent Texas power outages, or to provide power during peak load times, while at the same time effectively reducing vehicle energy costs."
Rhombus has fielded over a thousand high-power, bi-directional, high-reliability fleet EV charging systems and inverters for energy storage and PV solar-based microgrid, for customers in a variety of demanding operational environments. Bi-directional charging enables both significant energy cost savings for EV fleet operators and the ability to provide power to critical infrastructure during power emergencies when needed.
About Rhombus Energy Solutions
Rhombus develops and manufactures next-generation bi-directional electric vehicle charging infrastructure, high-efficiency power conversion systems and energy management system (EMS) software for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capable electric vehicle fleet charging, energy storage and microgrid applications. The high reliability of our solutions is the result of decades of experience developing high-power systems for a variety of applications and deployment scenarios, including UL 1741-SA system-to-grid solutions. For more information, please visit http://www.RhombusEnergy.com.
Rhombus Press/Media/Analyst Contact:
Carolyn Paynton
[email protected]
+1 888 978 6564
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Media Contact
Carolyn Paynton, Rhombus Energy, +1 888 978 6564, [email protected]
Kimber Smith Fidler, G2M Inc. for Rhombus Energy Solutions, +1 775 298 5260, [email protected]
SOURCE Rhombus Energy Solutions
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