Energy Management is the Key Even though electricity can be an economical alter-


native to fossil fuel vehicles, experts warn that if school districts do not carefully monitor their energy con- sumption, they could end up spending more than they bargained for. Shannon addressed this issue at Twin Rivers by install- ing a sophisticated charge management system (CMS), courtesy of Electriphi, a fleet electrification and energy management company in San Francisco. Shannon said Electriphi developed the CMS based on the district’s fleet characteristics to manage the charging times and durations for each bus. “The CMS will look at the GPS data and manage the


charging by analyzing the duty cycle of each bus and charge the buses accordingly,” Shannon explained. “The CMS optimizes when the buses charge, so they charge at the lowest rate times and at the minimum power level each bus needs [to] complete its duty cycle. The duty cycle is the mileage traveled by the bus and the length of time it is in service.”


The CMS staggers the charging time for the buses, Shannon continued, so they do not charge at the same time, to avoid creating a spike in the power grid. He said the technology has helped reduce fuel-equivalent costs by 80 percent. California grants Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credits to public and private entities that reduce their carbon footprint. Each credit earned by Twin Rivers is worth $200, he added. With the LCFS credits, Shannon said energy costs are almost zero. “We are in the process of developing an RFP to in-


crease the number of chargers from 21 to 82,” Shannon shared. “The majority of the infrastructure will be paid for with grant money.” Down south, Ocean View School District in Oxnard,


California, retained The Mobility House, a charging and energy management company, to assist in a pilot to begin electrifying its bus fleet with four electric school buses. Zoheb Davar, the director of business develop- ment and growth for The Mobility House, helped Ocean View identify the right chargers for its electric buses and manage the energy consumed. “Electric vehicles are much less expensive to operate, and the total cost of ownership is the same if not cheap- er than diesel engine buses,” Davar noted. “The cost of the electricity can really shock you, if you don’t manage the charging and energy consumption.” Davar shared that one of the difficulties is explaining the benefit of energy management before the electric buses are acquired. “We’re in this industry because we care about the environment, we want clean air,” he commented. “When you manage electricity, you limit


carbon emissions. That’s the reason why I care about energy management for the environmental reasons, and obviously that’s how we make money.” Davar said The Mobility House provides software that


indicates the buses are charging properly and that the charging times are spread out around the peak demand hours. “This minimizes cost and provides reliability because the fleet manager can monitor the charging process for each bus,” he added. “An RFID card [is used] to access the system. Ocean View’s four buses and four chargers were completely funded by grants from the California Energy Commission, CARB and SoCal Edison.” Meanwhile, Carmel Clay School District received Indi-


ana’s first electric school bus last June, as part of a grant made possible by the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust Fund Settlement and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Ron Farrand, the director of facilities and transportation for the district, said the grant picked up 75 percent of the $415,000 price tag. “Our part worked out to what we spend on a comparable diesel engine bus and we paid for the charging infrastructure. We had a local electrician install it, so it wasn’t too difficult.” Farrand said Carmel Clay Schools is also using soft-


ware that monitors the charging. “As part of [a] grant program, we have to include how the charging cost compares to the cost of fuel,” Farrand said. “In 2014, we purchased propane buses and we kept the same infor- mation on propane cost to diesel.” He explained an objective of acquiring the electric bus was to look at different technologies, adding that there are no definite plans to expand the program. “If grant money is available, we might look at getting more elec- tric buses because we are interested in alternative fuels,” he shared. “They are expensive.” Farrand said he put the bus on different routes for


weeks at a time so it could get exposure around town. “Our advice to everyone was to watch for the bus, don’t listen for it because you won’t hear it coming,” he said. “They are very quiet. We will get a device retrofitted so people can actually hear it coming.”


The Conversion Option Instead of absorbing the initial financial hit of buying new electric buses, Corey Muirhead, executive vice pres- ident of Logan Bus in New York City, opted to convert five of the company’s diesel fuel buses to electric power, noting the cost is significantly less than a new vehicle. Muirhead estimated that his cost per vehicle is about $170,000. He explained funding from a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority incentive voucher program totals $120,000, leaving Logan Bus a cost of about $50,000 per bus to retrofit. He said if the


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