Electrify America has been awarded the Electric Innovation Scalable Catalyst Award by Electric Innovation Initiative for its deployment of battery energy storage systems (BESS) as a solution to help enable faster, more seamless, and more accessible Hyper-Fast electric vehicle (EV) charging coast-to-coast.
The Scalable Catalyst Award honors projects designed to grow and accelerate the benefits of clean energy. Electrify America’s BESS initiative stood out for its innovative approach to helping solve an EV industry challenge of limited utility capacity in high-demand and underserved areas. Many rural and underserved areas face significant barriers to hosting Hyper-Fast charging stations due to high grid upgrade costs or limited power availability.
“Battery energy storage is unlocking a new chapter for EV charging,” said Rob Barrosa, president and CEO of Electrify America. “By overcoming electrical grid constraints, we can deliver Hyper-Fast charging in more places and serve more drivers.”
By storing energy from the electrical grid during low usage periods and discharging it during high demand periods, BESS helps make it possible to deliver Hyper-Fast charging in areas with limited utility capacity. This innovation enables Electrify America to deploy larger charging stations, reduce costly grid upgrades, and bring EV infrastructure to more communities coast-to-coast. By integrating BESS, Electrify America can deliver Hyper-Fast charging even in areas where the existing grid may not fully support a charging station on its own. Electrify America has over 170 BESS units operational, totaling more than 65,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of storage deployed coast-to-coast, the largest rollout of its kind paired with Hyper-Fast DC charging in North America.
Electric Innovation Initiative is awarding Electrify America $10,000 as the recipient of the Scalable Catalyst Award. To further the impact of this recognition, Electrify America is donating its $10,000 award to Edtunity Institute, a minority-owned and veteran-led nonprofit focused on continuing education and workforce development for transitioning military members and underserved populations in Virginia. Edtunity will help advance operations and maintenance vocational training, continuing to support the transition to electric transportation.
Electric Innovation Initiative also released a documentary highlighting the project. View the documentary here.
SOURCE: Electrify America
