Highland Electric Fleets, a fleet electrification-as-a-service provider, has worked with technology partners Thomas Built Buses, Proterra, Rhombus, and Synop to activate two Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley electric school buses with Proterra Powered battery systems and provide over 7 MWh of energy to the electric grid as part of a commercial vehicle-to-grid (V2G) program.
The project was undertaken in Beverly, Massachusetts, supplying energy to the grid for more than 80 hours and helping to reinforce the grid during the high-demand summer days, the company says.
Highland's Beverly V2G deployment comprised 32 grid events and demonstrated the feasibility of using electric buses as V2G sources, according to the report. It also supports the possibility of scaling the V2G service to additional deployments in Vermont, Maryland, Colorado, California, Virginia and other areas.
"Electric school buses are ideal assets for V2G applications," said Sean Leach, Director of Technology and Platform Management at Highland. "Nearly 500,000 school buses in North America spend most of their time parked. Fossil fuel-powered buses provide no value when idle. Electric buses, on the other hand, can be used effectively as mobile batteries when not transporting students to provide additional power that supports grid stability and resiliency. We're excited to work with top-tier partners to scale V2G programs and benefits to other communities."
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This is the second time Highland has used electric school buses as V2G assets in Beverly. In 2021, the firm and the same partners teamed up to use a single Proterra Powered, Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley to supply around 3MWh of energy back to the grid over 30 events. The Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley uses the 226 kWh of energy capacity from Proterra's battery technology, combined with the Proterra electric drivetrain to provide a drive range of up to 138 miles. The Rhombus Energy Solutions' 60 kW high-powered DC fast charger meets the safety requirements and provides bidirectional charging capability for as many as 5 school buses. Synop provides an end-to-end solution to regulate energy on the grid.
