from the EPA Clean School Bus Program grant early this year. The district’s main bus facility will be doubling its current 31 charging stations to 63 by April 2025. Forty to 50 stations will be installed at its second depot. “That’s where we’re going to put in the microgrid,” Bea-
ver said, adding that he’s happy to share the Beaverton experience with others. “I’ve got KPIs now that we’ve got some real data. With emissions reductions, vehicle costs, actual kilowatts per hour, miles per kilowatt and more.” The district will also bank diesel fuel savings—along
with annual vehicle replacement funds—to be prepared in 10 years when the current wave of new buses begins to time out. “That way, we don’t fall off a giant cliff,” he added. While still in the early adopter stage across the
country, microgrids and virtual power plants hold extraordinary potential for school districts, said Gagan Dhillon, founder of
Synop.ai, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based, end-to-end EV software platform that provides single, intuitive solutions to fleet electrification needs. “Electric school buses are essential power plants on wheels. One school bus can send back enough energy
over a month to power a house for a month so you can see where this can have a real impact on the grid,” Dhill- on explained. Management systems allow users to schedule vehicle
charging when utility rates are lowest. “Software is the glue. It makes the vehicle and hard-
ware speak to one another and, more importantly, software enables the hardware to be available, so if there are any issues with the firmware or charger uptime, you can resolve that in real time,” he continued. “Because, at the end of the day, what really matters is the school bus has to be available to pick up the kids and have an ap- propriate charge for the trips that it’s on. Software enable and optimizes all of that.” Dhillion said it’s still too early to determine whether
software can help extend battery life, but it can maxi- mize recharging time and minimize costs by ensuring batteries are charged to a desired level. He said execut- ing the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) process is “very exciting but it’s difficult because the ability, vehicle and charger often have to line up in this perfect ecosystem and there has to be a demand for that power.”
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