Zum Launches Nation’s 1st School District with 100% Electric, Bidirectional V2G School Bus Fleet in Oakland

Join daily news updates from CleanTechnica on electronic mail. Or follow us on Google News!

Oakland Unified College District’s 74 EV faculty buses and charging infrastructure supplies as much as 2.1 gigawatt hours of vitality again to the grid, reduces 25,000 tons of emissions yearly

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — Zoomthe trendy pupil transportation platform, introduced yesterday that Oakland Unified College District (OUSD) would be the first main faculty district within the U.S. to transition to a 100% electrified faculty bus system with groundbreaking vehicle-to-grid know-how. Zum is offering a fleet of 74 electrical faculty buses and bidirectional chargers in Oakland, managed by its AI-enabled know-how platform. The all-EV fleet won’t solely transport college students sustainably, but additionally play a crucial twin position as a Digital Energy Plant (VPP), giving 2.1 gigawatt hours of vitality again to the ability grid at scale yearly.

“We at Zum strongly believe it is time to move beyond pilots and deploy sustainability solutions at scale. Converting the Oakland Unified school bus fleet to 100% electric with VPP capability is the right step in that direction,” mentioned Ritu Narayan, Founder and CEO of Zum. “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. Zum is proud to have delivered on this ambitious project a year ahead of schedule.”

Scholar transportation is the biggest mass transit system within the nation, transferring 27 million college students twice day by day. At the moment, over 90% of the nation’s 500,000 faculty buses run on carbon-based fuels, releasing over 8.4 million tons of greenhouse gases yearly exposing college students and communities to dangerous gases on daily basis.

“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,” mentioned Kim Raney, Govt Director of Transportation at Oakland Unified College District. “The families of Oakland are disproportionately disadvantaged and affected by high rates of asthma and exposure to air pollution from diesel fuels. Providing our students with cleaner and quieter transportation on electric school buses will be a game changer ensuring they have an equitable and stronger chance of success in the classroom.”

Electrification of such a big fleet with V2G capabilities requires an enormous ecosystem of companions. Federal and California State applications which were crucial to the acceleration of this venture are: the Environmental Safety Company’s (EPA) Clear College Bus program, California Air Useful resource Board (CARB), Heavy Car Incentive Program (HVIP) vouchers, Bay Space Air High quality Administration District (BAAQMD) and Clear Mobility Operations (CMO) applications.

The acceleration of the EV transition was the results of Pacific Gasoline and Electrical Firm’s, Zum’s utility companion, capability to offer 2.7 megawatts of load to Zum’s Oakland EV-ready facility in report time.

“PG&E is proud to work closely with Zum and Oakland Unified in deploying what is the largest electric school bus fleet and vehicle-based, grid-supporting resource in the country,” mentioned Mike Delaney, Vice President of Utility Partnerships and Innovation, PG&E. “Oakland is PG&E’s headquarters, it is home to many of our customers and co-workers, and a city we’ve proudly served for more than a century. Achieving this advanced fleet electrification and vehicle-grid-integration milestone for the people and students of Oakland reflects our commitment to delivering excellent customer service outcomes for our hometowns using breakthrough thinking, collaboration and swift execution.”

Zum has set a purpose of electrifying 10,000 bidirectional faculty buses which can create the potential to produce 300 gigawatt hours of vitality to the ability grids yearly. As well as, Zum is electrifying faculty buses in its fleet in districts throughout the nation, with San Francisco Unified and Los Angeles Unified – that are three and 6 instances the dimensions of Zum’s Oakland faculty bus fleet, respectively – to quickly observe.

About Zūm

Zum is a contemporary transportation answer reworking faculty transportation, the biggest mass transit system within the U.S. At the moment, the corporate supplies turnkey trendy transportation options to high school districts in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Utahand Virginiaand is increasing quickly nationwide. Acknowledged globally for its modern transportation and vitality as a service platform, Zum has been featured amongst Quick Firm’s World Altering Concepts, CNBC Disruptor 50, CNBC Changemakers, World Financial Discussion board and Monetary Instances’ Quickest Rising Firms. Be taught extra about Zum at www.ridezum.com.