All school bus lots are different in the way that the buses are parked and used. Infrastructure is typically sized to match the type of bus and battery size, which impacts range and charge time. On top of that, every location has a different electrical power capacity and voltage. Most charging stations require 480Vac 3-phase power, where many locations do not have that voltage available. Blue Bird Energy Services Energy can expertly determine what equipment is recommended and how much electrical capacity is required at each bus lot, including the consideration for future proofing. In order to do this properly, a site walk is necessary.

The average time to receive your quotation is under three weeks.

Although not required, a full installation means that our team will handle every step of the installation process: engineering, permitting, construction, installation, and final commissioning We have experience installing EV charging equipment at thousands of customer locations across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and beyond. By selecting Blue Bird Energy Services for all your infrastructure needs, we ensure that the equipment will work whether there’s an issue with the equipment, software or the electrical infrastructure.

When the certified electrician visits your facility, they will look at your electrical service panel to see what capacity you have available to you for charging. But that’s only part of the equation. If your peak electrical bills show that you are only using a portion of your dedicated capacity as indicated by your circuit breaker ratings, then you might be able to accommodate more infrastructure without upgrading your service. Because different regions use more electricity at different times of the year (winter or summer, for example), it is important that we see the entire year’s peak usage for the meter your EV charging equipment will be connected to.

We focus on fleet applications where a full-service offering is valued. We take care of determining the appropriate charging hardware and schedule for your fleet, site engineering, permitting, construction, sales of hardware and software, commissioning, extended warranties and both preventative and reactive maintenance of your charging hardware. However, in the cases where you already have your own electrician or construction crew, we can simply sell you the hardware, software, and do the final bolt down of equipment, wiring and commissioning. Please let us know if you have a preference to use your own electrician.

Many times, a school district prefers to work with their own electrical contractor or has a crew to do this work. In these cases, we allow the school district or transportation company to follow prescribed requirements for the placement of the charging equipment and self-contracted electrical infrastructure that meets the National Electrical Code (NEC). We will verify that the infrastructure was installed correctly through a review of the permit package and photographs, among other things. Once this review is completed, we will ship the dealer the charging equipment and send technicians to your facility to do the ‘final bolt down’, the necessary electrical connections and equipment commissioning, testing, and final permit closeout.

Typically, EV charging equipment comes standard with a two-year parts warranty. Many times, your quotation will include an extended warranty to five years as many incentive programs require it. Also, your quotation will include five years of software service for the same reason, plus it is a great management tool for charging your fleet and keeping it maintained. Other ‘extras’ may include connectivity of your hardware to cell service, which enables your software to operate on the hardware. Items such as preventative maintenance or reactive maintenance are plans that keep your system uptime maximized. For other questions on your quotation, please contact your representative or connect with a specialist below.