The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) partnered with the City of Corvallis (the City) for a deployment project with a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant funded under the Urbanized Area Formula Assistance Program (Section 5307). CTE is working with the City to deploy two 35’ GILLIG battery electric buses (BEBs) and charging infrastructure in a long-term effort to transition to a 100% zero-emission fleet. After the bus build was delayed due to a parts shortage, the two buses were delivered to the City in July 2023.
The City decided to purchase three ChargePoint CPE 250 chargers (two of which will utilize a paired configuration) following CTE’s presentation and overview of charger options and capabilities. CTE worked with the City to define bus and charging requirements, and to engage Pacific Power, which is the Corvallis utility.
CTE assisted in the development of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for design and construction management of charging infrastructure to support BEBs. During the evaluations, CTE supported the City with responses to vendor questions and also provided technical support. CTE helped the City review design drawings for the charging infrastructure from Elcon, the A&E firm awarded from the RFP.
CTE and the City worked together to prepare a Request for Bids (RFB) for construction services in parallel with the submission of the infrastructure design drawings. The City issued the construction services RFB in early October 2022 and awarded a construction contract to Belco in November 2022. Infrastructure construction has begun and the chargers are on-site. However, due to issues obtaining a permit, completion of construction has been delayed and deployment of the buses is on hold. The City has selected an engineering firm to assist with the Willamette River Greenway permitting process. The charging infrastructure construction remains delayed due to continued permitting issues, but once it is in place CTE will complete route and deployment validation. CTE completed on-site validation testing in February 2024 to confirm the information and specifications provided by GILLIG and to validate BEB operational performance as compared to the models used for operational planning. The City can use this information to inform operational planning for selected bus routes and services. A final report summarizing the project will be submitted to the FTA at the conclusion of the year-long data collection and key performance indicator reporting period.
