TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Tony Olmos, Public Works Director
Bruce Moe, Finance Director
Sona Coffee, Environmental Programs Manager
Gwen Eng, Purchasing Manager
SUBJECT:Title
Ratification of Partially Grant Funded Purchase of Electric Vehicle Monitoring Equipment from ATVLS, Inc. in the Amount of $40,879.18 (Public Works Director Olmos).
WAIVE FORMAL BIDDING; APPROVE
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that City Council:
1. Waive formal bidding per Municipal Code Section 2.36.140 (waivers); and
2. Ratify the purchase of electric vehicle monitoring equipment from ATVLS, Inc. in the amount of $40,879.18.
Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
An appropriation from AB 2766 Subvention Fund for the purchase of electric vehicle monitoring equipment was approved by the City Council on October 21, 2014. The City will receive $22,485 in matching funds from the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) under their Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC) Local Government Match Program. This project will be completed by November 2015.
BACKGROUND:
In December 2012, City Council held a study session to review options for providing public electric vehicle charging stations in the City of Manhattan Beach. The study session reviewed several locations that would be eligible for electric vehicle charging stations, and the City has installed stations at these locations as grant funding has become available.
A goal of the MSRC program is to replace standard vehicles with electric vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants. The City has recently received funding from the Local Government Match Program to support this goal through the purchase of electric vehicle charging stations for public and City use. Six publicly available charging stations have been installed to date, four stations in the Civic Center parking garage and two stations in parking Lot 4 in North Manhattan Beach on Rosecrans and Highland Avenue.
There are several locations in Manhattan Beach such as the Metlox parking garage and parking Lot 3 in downtown Manhattan Beach which are setup for electric vehicle charging stations. Attachment 1 shows a map of the electric vehicle charging station locations and four charging stations were purchased in Fiscal Year 2014-2015.
These stations do not have monitoring capabilities, so the City cannot easily track the use of these stations. Monitoring infrastructure does exist that can provide this information, and the equipment is compatible with the charging stations in the City. Grant funding is available to purchase monitoring technology to better assess and manage these charging stations.
Although, the City Council approved the budget appropriation on October 21, 2014, and the preferred product was known at the time, it was not known that this product was only available through one distributor.
The equipment purchased is manufactured by Liberty Plug-ins Inc. Staff selected Liberty’s “Hydra-R” operating platform because it centralizes access control, data recording and communications, while significantly reducing hardware costs as well as ongoing monthly data charges that are associated with other types of monitoring equipment. Further, by directly controlling the power supplied to each charger, Hydra-R is compatible and able to work with almost any brand of non-networked EV charging station, and doesn’t require a proprietary networking and/or shared revenue billing agreement.
Other competing products employ a proprietary operating architecture that would restrict purchase selection to specific electric vehicle charging stations. However, the City has already standardized on the Clipper Creek charging stations and is seeking to install the best available equipment that is compatible with these stations. The Hydra-R architecture is unique in the electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE) industry, and is the only access control and energy usage monitoring system that can communicate with the Clipper Creek charging stations. In addition, other providers charge varying service fees while the Liberty Plug-ins equipment has a fixed service fee. The Liberty Plug-ins equipment was recommended to City Council in the October 21, 2014 staff report in which a funding allocation was made for this project.
Since the funds were appropriated in Fiscal Year 2014-15, and City Council had approved the project in concept by accepting the grant funds, staff issued a purchase order to ATVLS, Inc. in June 2015, subject to the City Council ratifying this action on tonight’s agenda. Therefore, staff is returning to the City Council for ratification of this purchase.
DISCUSSION:
The electric vehicle charging stations that have been installed to date seem to be very well used by the public, but without monitoring capability staff does not have access to information such as the number of vehicles using the charging stations at any given time. Further, since the charging stations are not part of a network, users cannot monitor the status of their vehicles, reserve a charging station ahead of time, or identify the availability of a parking space before arriving in the parking garage (these are future features that can be facilitated with this monitoring equipment purchase).
Technology is available that can provide users with the information needed, without tying the City into a proprietary software system or a for-profit charging system. Aside from the data on usage that would become available, electric vehicle monitoring equipment would also provide the City with the opportunity to assign specific parking or charging requirements, such as parking hours or parking fees during certain times.
Grant funds are available to partially fund the purchase of this technology. Staff recommends the purchase and installation of five Liberty Hydra-R systems to support each of the areas where electric vehicle charging stations exist or are scheduled to be installed. The Liberty Hydra-R systems would be owned by the City, and are compatible with existing charging stations.
The Liberty Hydra-R access control and energy usage monitoring system is sold exclusively in the State of California by ATVLS, Inc. As a result, competitive bidding is not possible for this equipment. Staff has successfully negotiated with ATVLS, Inc. on pricing for the Liberty Hydra-R systems.
CONCLUSION:
The requested electric vehicle monitoring equipment was selected based on the best solution for the City’s needs. In order to continue to support electric vehicle technology, staff recommends that the City Council waive formal bidding and ratify the purchase of electric vehicle monitoring equipment from ATVLS, Inc. in the amount of $40,879.18.
Attachments:
1. Electric Vehicle Charging Locations in Manhattan Beach