Highland Electric Powers Bus Fleet with Maddox Padmount

KWRL Transportation provides safe and reliable school transportation for over 7,000 students. Operating a large fleet of school buses with 87 drivers managing 88 routes, they are a cooperative serving the Kalama, Woodland, Ridgefield, and La Center communities in Washington.

"Going back about 2 years ago, we started investigating the possibility of going to electrification," said Shannon Barnett, KWRL's Director of Transportation. "We started partnering with our local counties’ PUD and making sure that we had the energy capacity in the area to facilitate it".

From there, KWRL began to partner with school bus manufacturers and Highland Electric Fleets to build a fleet of electric buses. These buses would be charged at their Ridgefield site using eight 30kW Zerova DC fast charging stations. The chargers would be fed by a 750 kVA padmount transformer that would step the utility power down to 480 volts.

Both companies were able to secure two grants to help pay for the project. Adam Blau, team manager at Highland Electric Fleets said, “We were able to stack the two grants and pay for the large majority of the school buses and the associated infrastructure.”

The funds, however, came with requirements. Because the grants were provided by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), any transformers powering the charging stations had to follow Build America, Buy America (BABA) compliance regulations. This meant the units had to be manufactured in the US, and over 55% of their material costs had to come from American-produced materials. 

So Highland Electric needed an American-built padmount transformer compliant with public utility district specifications. So they started looking. 

"When we're sourcing transformers, obviously we're looking for good partners," noted Blau. "Our interest is really the district's interest. So what's going to perform reliably and do so at an efficient price, ensuring we can get them when we need them, the lead time isn't too long, and the performance is there".

At that time, the standard lead time for the unit Highland needed was 42 weeks. But then, Highland reached out to Maddox. Maddox had a new BABA-compliant unit in stock in their nearby Battle Ground, WA yard. And it could be delivered in four weeks. 

But the Ridgefield site wasn’t ready yet. Wouldn’t be until mid-to-late summer. So Maddox stored the unit in their yard for free, and on July 1st delivered a brand-new 750 kVA padmount. KWRL Transportation got charging stations for their electric buses. And students got a reliable way to travel safely to and from school.

Highland was very happy with Maddox, stating, "We would recommend Maddox for any EV charging infrastructure needs."

Maddox can get you the transformers you need for your projects. We’ve got thousands of units in stock in yards across the country ready to ship to you. And if your project has unique requirements, fill out the form below! You’ll speak with a real person within one business day who will talk through exactly what you need. 

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