SEA Electric and bus dealer Midwest Transit Equipment (MTE) are partnering to convert a target of 10,000 school buses to zero-emissions technology, giving the vehicles an additional estimated 10 years of service life.
The companies plan to make 100% electric school Type A and Type C buses available across the country “at a fraction of the cost of an all-new vehicle,” they say. SEA and MTE will convert and deliver the buses over the next five years.
Central to the partnership is the SEA-Drive power system, which has recorded 1.5 million miles of real-world use to date, SEA says. The low-voltage architecture and no requirement for liquid cooling enables SEA’s solution to be light, cost-effective and efficient, the company says.
The buses will have the ability to deliver full vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities, with the SEA-Drive power system able to feed electricity back into the power grid to improve stability when connected to a charging station.
The companies note that their bus will be at the ACT Expo in Long Beach, Calif., May 9-12, including in the event’s ride-and-drive.