Finding a fast electric vehicle charger in a busy coastal city can be a gamble, especially during peak travel times. Electrify America is trying to make that easier in Santa Barbara with a much larger charging hub — and the biggest public battery system it has deployed so far.
What happened?
At the former Greyhound bus depot on West Carrillo Street in downtown Santa Barbara, Electrify America has launched a new large-format charging hub, Electrek reported. The location has 20 DC fast chargers, each capable of delivering up to 350 kilowatts.
Every stall will use CCS at launch, but Electrify America said some will shift to NACS later this summer as part of an ongoing pilot program. In ideal conditions, compatible EVs can charge quickly enough to add up to 20 miles of range per minute.
According to Electrek, this is Electrify America's second station in Santa Barbara. It is also the company's fourth such station in California, after Santa Monica, San Diego, and San Francisco.
Why does it matter?
The site also includes a 1.9-megawatt on-site BESS, which Electrek said Electrify America considers its largest public battery deployment to date.
The system can store electricity when charging demand is low or solar energy is abundant, then feed that energy back during busier stretches. That setup gives the hub greater capacity to absorb peak usage while easing some of the load on the local grid.
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That is especially relevant in Santa Barbara, which draws residents, commuters, and travelers moving up and down the California coast. A larger hub can help ease charging bottlenecks as EV adoption grows, while onsite storage may also make better use of renewable power.
What's being done?
Electrify America said these larger stations are designed to reduce wait times by offering 20 or more chargers at a single location.
By storing power on-site and using it when needed, charging companies may be able to bring high-speed charging to places that would otherwise be slower or harder to serve due to grid limitations.
The planned addition of NACS connectors later this summer should also expand access, giving more EV drivers the option to plug in directly rather than rely on adapters.
As Rob Barrosa, Electrify America president and CEO, put it, per Electrek: "By incorporating advanced storage technology, we're able to bring Hyper-Fast charging to locations that have traditionally been difficult to serve, while making it easy for customers to integrate charging into their daily routines in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara."
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