Anaheim Transportation Network, the transit company that operates buses within the metropolis’s resort district, on Friday opened the county’s first-of-its-kind, solar-powered charging facility to energy its fleet of buses. -electric buses and vans.
The charging hub, positioned east of the 5 Freeway at South Claudina Street, expands the company’s skill to cost its electrical autos as its leaders plan to buy extra within the coming years.
“We are very happy with this,” mentioned ATN CEO Diana Kotler.
The 514-kW photo voltaic panel on the charging hub will present about 25% of ATN’s anticipated vitality consumption, in response to a information launch from the company. Batteries on website will retailer electrical energy whereas the panels accumulate vitality all through the day to cost buses that return to the power on the finish of their shifts.
Jim Appleby, ATN’s director of operations, mentioned the buses drive about 90 miles a day.
“That’s one of many nice issues about Anaheim for us — our terrain is sweet and flat and our climate is nice,” Appleby mentioned. “So that makes it one of the best place to do battery electrical buses.”
Chargers can decide how a lot a automobile can be charged based mostly on the extent of service it supplies the following day, Kotler mentioned. They additionally attempt to keep away from charging peak hours for electrical energy payments.
ATN has three companies: the Anaheim Regional Transportation bus that travels by the resort space and connects to space transportation hubs; the Free Rides Around the Neighborhood, or FRAN, mini buses that serve the downtown space; and EVE, or Everyone Ventures Everywhere, shuttles to and from John Wayne Airport to Anaheim.
All three companies use electrical autos and the company serves greater than 9 million rides a yr.
Kotler mentioned electrical buses save ATN as much as $1 million a yr in gasoline prices and require much less upkeep.
Before the power opened, Kotler mentioned it was “musical chairs” to maneuver autos to get them to obtainable chargers.
California transit businesses should transition their fleets to be fully zero emission by 2040. More than half of ATN’s bus fleet is now electrical.
The charging hub receives funding from the California State Transportation Agency, the Anaheim Tourism Improvement District, the California Energy Commission and the Public Utilities Commission.