Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is helping school districts in its California service area as they transition to electric buses, supporting cleaner air, lower maintenance costs and quieter rides. Through its EV Fleet program, PG&E is working with over 30 school districts adopting about 350 electric buses.
For Clovis Unified School District in the Central Valley and Red Bluff Joint Union High School District in the North Valley, PG&E helped build the electrical infrastructure necessary to power electric buses and provided rebates for the school districts to purchase the EV chargers. Over the next few years, the school districts are installing the EV chargers and incorporating electric school buses into their fleets – 11 in Clovis and 10 in Red Bluff.
“Expanding the use of electric vehicles is essential for California to achieve its bold climate and clean-air goals. PG&E is thrilled to support the critical task of electrifying fleet vehicles, and we will continue to be an active partner in helping make EVs an option for our customers, including school districts. Reducing vehicle emissions is good for our students, the state and the environment,” says Laurie Giammona, PG&E’s senior vice president of customer care.
Through the EV Fleet program, PG&E is currently working on over 65 customer projects supporting approximately 1,100 electric fleet vehicles. The program aims to install electrical infrastructure at 700 sites by 2024 to support the adoption of 6,500 medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles, including school buses. Through the EV Fleet program, PG&E helps build the electrical infrastructure for customers’ medium- to heavy-duty EVs. PG&E comprehensively assists customers across all facets of EV charging including available incentives and rebates, site design and permitting, construction and activation, and infrastructure maintenance and upgrades.
In addition to the EV Fleet program, PG&E supports EV adoption for fleet vehicles through special rates and tools, including the Business EV Rate and EV Fleet Savings Calculator. For customers with fleets that are making the transition to electric, an essential step in the process is understanding the costs and potential cost savings when deploying EVs.