Oakland Unified School District in California is making history by becoming the first major school district in the United States to have a 100% electrified school bus system, according to an article published in Smart Energy International.
Zūm, a future-ready transportation solutions provider, is providing OUSD with 74 electric school buses and bidirectional chargers with vehicle-to-grid technology.
On top of supplying the district with electric transportation, the EV fleet will also serve as a virtual power plant. Each year, the EV fleet is expected to give 2.1 gigawatt-hours of energy back to the power grid by charging up at night beyond the daily driving needs and discharging during the day, according to Power Grid International.
"Oakland becoming the first in the nation to have a 100% electric school bus fleet is a huge win for the Oakland community and the nation as a whole," said Kim Raney, executive director of transportation for OUSD.
Providing Oakland's schools with a fleet of electric buses is a part of Zūm's goal of electrifying 10,000 bidirectional school buses. That's an exciting prospect, as that many buses could supply 300GWh of energy to power grids each year, according to School Bus Fleet.
Transitioning Oakland's buses to a fleet of electric vehicles is also a major step toward a cleaner, more sustainable future, as the EVs are expected to reduce annual pollution by 25,000 tons, according to The EV Report.
A recent study conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area revealed the positive impact electric vehicles have on decreasing air pollution. By transitioning away from gas-powered cars and toward electric vehicles, school districts can not only help make the air healthier for their students but also help prevent planet-warming gases from entering the atmosphere.
"This historic milestone is a win-win proposition: Electric school buses with V2G provide students with cleaner, fume-free transportation and allow us to send untapped energy from the bus batteries back to the grid, creating an enormous impact on grid resilience," Zūm founder and CEO Ritu Narayan said.
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