The governor of Nevada, Steve Sisolak (D-NV), signed a multi-state agreement yesterday that pledges at least 30% of all new trucks and buses sold will be zero emission by 2030, and 100% will be zero emission by 2050.
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Macon, Georgia-based bus maker Blue Bird Corporation (Nasdaq: BLBD) has received the single largest order of electric school buses from a school district in its history.
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Lots of news in the segment of electric school buses this week, as Highland Electric Fleets signed an agreement with Thomas Built Buses to provide lower upfront costs to customers and expedite EV adoption; their letter of intent will put the price of an electric bus at cost parity with the traditional diesel option. On the opposite US coast, InCharge Energy and its partners announced a project in Southern California to deploy 42 electric school buses, calling it the largest fleet in the state.
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The Lion Electric Company has launched a new division called LionCapital Solutions. The new division will provide Lion Electric customers with flexible financing as they look to electrify their fleets of medium- to heavy-duty commercial vehicles such as school buses and trucks.
Electrification of school busses and fleets requires a huge upfront cost but lower total cost of ownership over the life of the vehicle. By helping spread out the purchase price of fleets over their lifetimes, Lion is allowing operators to keep in place their current financial structures.
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Chinese mobility manufacturer BYD has introduced its new “Type A” electric school bus to transport up to thirty US students at a time. Furthermore, the new zero-emission bus is ADA capable up to 800 lbs and can travel 140 miles on a single charge. What may be most appealing to school districts, however, is the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities BYD’s Type A school bus will provide.
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SEA Electric, an Australian company with US headquarters in Torrance, California, that makes battery electric power systems for commercial vehicles, and Illinois-headquartered Midwest Transit Equipment (MTE), one of the largest school bus dealers in the US, have partnered to update 10,000 school buses in the US Midwest with battery-electric power systems over the next five years.
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In October 2020, Electrek reported that the state of Alaska got its very first electric school bus. Here’s how the first and only electric school bus in The Last Frontier is running just over a year later.
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The utility company National Grid has leveraged an electric school bus to help meet peak demand for electricity for the first time, in Beverly, Massachusetts. The National Grid supplies electricity to Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island.
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In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
BYD (Build Your Dreams) has introduced a fully electric Type D school bus, complete with smart technologies like bi-directional charging and advanced safety features. According to the Chinese automaker, its sleek design “will have students wanting to step onboard.” You know, because kids clamor to get to school each morning when they’re on a cool bus.
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Electrified powertrain manufacturer Cummins has delivered what it is calling the first fully operational vehicle-to-grid (V2G) school buses. Even though Lion Electric started testing the same V2G tech years ago. These buses are manufactured by Blue Bird and powered by Cummins to include DC fast charging and V2G capabilities. The two electric school buses are operational in school districts in Peoria, Illinois, about 2.5 hours south of Chicago.
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The recently announced investment from the Government of Canada includes zero-emissions public transit and school buses. The full $2.75 billion will be funded over the next five years starting in 2021. The Government of Canada expects the investment to promote jobs and economic recovery in a net-zero emissions future.
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The Lion Electric Company, a Quebec-based manufacturer of electric school buses, has successfully completed a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) pilot deployment of five school buses in White Plains, New York.
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In September, we reported on the tremendous news that Dominion Energy, an investor-owned utility operating in eight US states, would be buying a minimum of 1,050 V2G electric school buses over the next five years. The procurement would start with 50 school buses, then add 200 per year over five years.
Now the winner of the first phase has been announced, and congratulations are in order for Daimler’s Thomas Built Buses, who will be supplying 50 of its C2 Jouley all-electric buses (pictured above).
Sic semper tyrannis. True to its motto, Virginia has dealt a death blow to the tyranny of diesel school buses. A few weeks ago, we highlighted some successful electric school bus V2G pilots, discussed the countless benefits, but lamented that we seemed to be stuck with one-off pilot projects involving just a handful of school buses. But now Virginia and utility Dominion Energy have delivered us salvation: They will be buying a minimum of 1,050 V2G electric school buses over the next five years. That single purchase dwarfs all others, and will serve as the catalyst for a nationwide fleet conversion by bringing down the upfront cost of electric school buses. It will also hopefully shame the rest of the US into ceasing purchases of child-poisoning diesel school buses. But it doesn’t end there.
“The batteries on this bus go bi-directional!” That’s what kids in White Plains School District, just north of New York City, can boast this back-to-school season. The kids already enjoyed riding five clean, quiet all-electric Lion C-type Electric School Buses last school year, and now those same buses have been fitted with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) tech to allow the bus to serve as backup stationary storage for the grid when parked. As with most things electric, the east coast is following California’s lead, where kids in the Torrance Unified School Districts began breathing easy on V2G electric school buses in 2016.
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The California Energy Commission has awarded nearly $70 million to state schools to replace more than 200 diesel school buses with new, all-electric school buses.
Blue Bird, an important American bus manufacturer better known for its school buses, is taking its new electric buses on the road to school districts and fleet operators around the country to convince them to go electric.
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Daimler started to emerge as a leader in the electrification of the larger and heavier segments of ground transportation. They already started delivering the eCanter electric truck and more recently, they unveiled a heavy-duty all-electric truck concept with ‘up to 220 miles’ range.
Now they are leveraging their experience with those projects to unveil their first all-electric school bus.
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