Blue Bird Corp., an independent designer and manufacturer of school buses, has delivered the first operational DC fast-charge vehicle-to-grid (V2G)-capable school bus in North America, utilizing technology from Nuvve Holding Corp.
The bus, powered by the Cummins PowerDrive EV system, is one of two Blue Bird Type C electric buses delivered to Illinois’ Pekin Public School District and Hollis Consolidated School District #328 in Peoria, Ill.
“Not only are we improving the health of our students, drivers and communities by reducing emissions, but our V2G capabilities allow us to store clean electrical energy and to generate revenue by reselling unused energy back to the grid during peak demand,” says Daniel Jost, fleet manager for the city of Pekin. “We’re proud to transition our community, state and the country toward a future based on clean energy.”
Nuvve’s V2G platform allows the school bus batteries to store energy, including renewable energy generated from sources like wind and solar, when the grid doesn’t have immediate need for it. This allows fleets to sell stored energy from the school bus batteries to the grid when demand calls for it. The Nuvve V2G system can also be used to supply energy back to the school and intelligently charge the buses during non-peak hours to reduce peak-consumption energy costs. Nuvve is installing their high-powered V2G DC charging stations at each site.
Both school districts are members of the Bus-2-Grid Initiative, a membership service of the Future Green Energy Consortium, which helps school districts leverage V2G revenue opportunities and secure grant funding to electrify their fleets. The districts are currently adding infrastructure and chargers to support their new zero-emissions buses, which were paid for by an electric bus grant from the Edwards Coal-Fired Plant Settlement.