A vehicle-to-grid project in White Plains, New York, where National Express operates, showed promise. But the economics still must play out, as local utilities are determining the rates they would pay for school buses charged back into the grid.
Kevin Matthews, who was named head of electrification at First Student in February. “The adequate power needed at our locations and to
efficiently charge our electric school buses, in some instances, could equal a small substation,” he continued. “This infrastructure needs to include upgrading trans- formers and installation and building of connection points.” First Student has V2G pilot programs under way in
Illinois and Oregon, and a memorandum of understand- ing announcement with the U.S. Department of Energy to “help create a focused V2X (vehicle-to-everything) collaboration for California, which showcases our dedi- cation to electrification,” Matthews relayed. Meanwhile, New York utility Con Edison worked with
Lion Electric and National Express to roll out an electric school bus V2G charging pilot project in White Plains, New York, where five electric buses brought elementary school students to class before plugging into the grid. Raghu Sudhakara, Con Edison’s project director, said
the results of the pilot were promising and that “electric school buses can be a valuable resource for grid reliabil- ity under the right circumstances.” However, advances need to be made for the set-up to be more consistently feasible and financially beneficial. “As to be expected with any demonstration project, we had findings that produced great hope and others that clearly demonstrated that challenges remain. The buses performed well, particularly when it came to customer experience for operators and students, kilowatt hours
38 School Transportation News • JUNE 2022
per mile, minimal electricity losses, and availability,” Sudhakara said. “Challenges mostly centered around economics of adding V2G functionality that we are optimistic will be worked through by the industry in the coming years.” At the forefront of these challenges is standardizing
what utilities will pay electric vehicle operators who charge back to the grid. Sudhakara added that more standardized protocols for bi-directional charging would also help accelerate V2G adoption. “The research from the demonstration project showed
that using the batteries for both transportation and grid support causes the batteries to degrade just like driving would,” he explained. “That means that future V2G may re- quire extended warranties or earlier battery replacements.” In addition to the White Plains electric buses that were
deployed in 2018, National Express added electric buses to its fleet in Ann Arbor, Michigan this year and it plans to add 10 electric conventional buses and three smaller buses in Everett, Washington by next year. It is commit- ted to a zero-emissions fleet by 2040. “Today, the majority of solutions offered to our cus-
tomers contain an alternative fuel element,” commented Carina Noble, senior vice president of communications and external affairs for National Express. “When you consider all alternates (CNG, electric, gasoline, propane), customers are fully embracing a migration away from diesel. However, until alternative fueled vehicles are at least cost neutral, customers are limited in their ability to tran- sition … In addition to the positive environmental impact,
PHOTO COURTESTY OF NATIONAL EXPRESS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
