Board approves one‑year agreement with IXP to modernize EV chargers after staff cites maintenance issues
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
The board approved a one‑year contract with IXP LLC to upgrade EV charging equipment and software across district sites. Staff said pending grant reimbursement (~$213,000) and broken chargers motivated the agreement; trustees pressed staff on rates and a 20% revenue share to the vendor.
The Los Altos School District Board of Trustees approved a one‑year agreement Dec. 15 with IXP LLC to modernize the district’s electric‑vehicle charging stations after staff described ongoing hardware failures and maintenance costs.
Staff told trustees that chargers installed under a 2018 Bay Area Air Quality Management District grant have suffered outages and that the district still expects roughly $213,000 in remaining grant reimbursement. The contractor PowerFlex was the original installer; staff said software, firmware and some hardware are at the end of useful life. The recommended one‑year pilot contract with IXP/OPM would replace field control boards and networking components, improve software support and allow staff to manage accounts.
Staff proposed rates intended to prioritize staff access and cover operating costs: district staff would use RFID cards or an app at no out‑of‑pocket cost; the public could be charged $1.00 per kilowatt‑hour during daytime and lower rates overnight (staff cited 60¢ and 40¢ as modeled off‑peak examples). IXP would receive a share of revenue under the proposed arrangement; trustees noted the vendor’s revenue share was about 20 percent in the staff model.
‘‘If IXP is getting 20% of the revenue…we’re still losing money,’’ one trustee observed, questioning whether the district would subsidize public charging or staff use. Staff replied the one‑year pilot involves no upfront district capital cost and that the district will analyze operating data over six months before negotiating further or changing rates.
The board approved the one‑year agreement by roll call, and staff said they will return in about eight months with usage data and a recommendation on longer‑term arrangements.