Electrify America Opens Largest Battery-Backed EV
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- Electrify America opened a new "large-format" EV charging station at 36 West Carrillo Street in downtown Santa Barbara on the former Greyhound bus depot property, adding 20 DC fast chargers capable of delivering up to 350 kW each
- All 20 chargers currently use CCS connectors, with some slated to switch to NACS connectors later this summer under Electrify America's ongoing pilot program, removing the need for adapters for compatible EV drivers
- The site pairs the chargers with a 1.9-megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS) — the company's largest public deployment — which stores electricity during low-demand or high-solar periods and releases it during peak charging
- Rob Barrosa, Electrify America's president and CEO, said the storage tech lets the company bring Hyper-Fast charging "to locations that have traditionally been difficult to serve" like downtown Santa Barbara
- The Carrillo Street location is Electrify America's second station in Santa Barbara (the first is at 3790 State Street) and the fourth large-format site in California, joining locations in Santa Monica, San Diego, and San Francisco
- Under ideal conditions, compatible EVs at the new site can add up to 20 miles of range per minute, and the 20+ charger footprint is designed to reduce wait times as EV adoption grows
Why it matters: By co-locating a 1.9 MW battery with 20 high-power chargers, Electrify America can deliver 350 kW speeds at a downtown site that likely couldn't handle that electrical load directly from the grid — effectively turning grid constraints into a non-issue for future urban fast-charging rollouts. For EV drivers in underserved Santa Barbara, the new hub means shorter waits and NACS access for Tesla-compatible vehicles later this summer without an adapter.
