A bi-directional charger installed at Cajon Valley Union School District near San Diego, where the first V2G project on the West Coast began when the new school year started last month.
South Burlington, Vermont. The project addressed spikes in summertime energy demands.
“The buses, which are part of the Beverly
Public School District and South Burl- ington School District fleets, participated in commercial V2G programs with Na- tional Grid and Green Mountain Power, respectively,” said Sean Leach, director of technology and platform management at Highland Electric Fleets, which oversaw the project. Also in 2021, EV charging and ener- gy management provider Amply Power partnered with Logan Bus Company and Unique Electric Solutions (UES) to repower existing internal combustion engine buses with electric powertrains, including a V2G bi-directional charging system by Rhombus. Logan is the largest school bus provider for the New York City Department of Education. “V2G is available to Amply’s customers
through our Omega Charge Management System (CMS), and we are ready to work with interested customers to make V2G a
said Justyne Lobello, who until recently was Nuvve’s marketing director. “Not only is Nuvve’s technology enabling the grid to draw energy from the buses when it’s needed most, it’s also ensuring the vehicles have enough stored power to operate during their daily routes. This addition of V2G enabled electric school buses at Cajon Valley Union School District is also help- ing to create cleaner rides for the district’s students and the greater community.” The first V2G pilot project on the East Coast operat- ed this summer and last for the National Grid in New England. It used idle Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley ESBs from Thomas Built Buses, battery and powertrain from Pro- terra, 60 kW bi-directional DC chargers from Rhombus Energy Solutions, and AI-enabled charge management software from Synop, to provide 7 MWh of energy to electric grids serving Beverly, Massachusetts, and
46 School Transportation News • SEPTEMBER 2022
part of their fleet charging plans,” explained Simon Lons- dale, head of sales and strategy for Amply. “By offering V2G capabilities, we are helping our fleet customers fu- ture-proof their charging strategies, strengthen their local grids, and may give them the ability to create an addition- al revenue stream with their EV fleet. However, we are still in the early phases of V2G implementation and there is still a lot to learn about the technology, including how it integrates with the local utility and the grid.” Industry experts say grid resilience, or the ability to
withstand dramas such as power outages caused by excessive demand or natural disasters with no loss of service, would be a major contribution of V2G involving school buses. “We also see a valuable role for electric buses as
standalone resiliency assets,” Leach said. “For example, during an ice storm or a heat wave, the buses could
PHOTO COURTESY OF NUVVE.
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