The City of Seattle’s EV Charging Stations

Case: Need for Large EV Fleet In The City of Seattle Public Utilities With Limited Electrical Capacity.

Scenario

The City of Seattle Public Utilities had a plan to purchase 40 + electric vehicles for their fleet in 2019 and had a need for EV charging stations in Seattle. Because Clipper Creek’s made in USA EV charging stations were one of the very few charging station models approved by the City of Seattle at that time, the decision was made to install 40 of Clipper Creek’s HCS 40 (32 A charging stations) to charge Public Utilities fleet, consisting of sedans, mainly of Chevrolets.

However, the main problem was the lack of power in the electrical panel. They had 400A available in the panel, which was not enough to have the whole EV fleet charged with independent dedicated circuits per charger.

Solution

Cyber Switching consulted to install an EV Management Controller (EVMC) layout to charge 40 electric vehicles and leverage the existing electrical service. This design drastically lowered the costs for an EV charger installation in Seattle as well as electrical conduit and wiring costs within the parking lots. The EVMC is capable of maximizing the use of the existing electrical infrastructure by feeding up to 4 EV charging stations using a single 40A branch circuit.

Results

After implementing this solution, every driver of the fleet now has a dedicated charger installed directly in their parking space and is able to get the electric cars fully charged overnight and ready for work by the morning when they come to work.

Thanks to Cyber Switching, the City of Seattle Public Utilities now is able to feed 64 ClipperCreek HCS-40 electric charging stations in Seattle for fleet operators to plug their EV chargers powered by sixteen EVMC units and installed by a local certified electrical contractor firm.

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