Electric School Buses Power US Energy Grid
Why this is here: The Oakland project could generate over one gigawatt of energy for the grid by electrifying the state’s 25,000 school buses, transforming them into valuable energy infrastructure assets.
Electric school buses in Oakland, California are now contributing to the energy grid. Zum, a San Francisco startup, deployed 74 electric buses that function as mobile energy storage units. This initiative replaces diesel vehicles and aims to reduce emissions.
The company plans to electrify 10,000 buses in four years, potentially avoiding 8.4 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually if all 500,000 US school buses were electric. The buses can store energy when demand is low, then return power to the grid during peak hours using vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology.
PG&E, California’s largest energy provider, supported the project. They provided the necessary energy to power the buses ahead of schedule. Similar V2G projects are also underway in Maryland, Massachusetts, Colorado, and Illinois.