Commercial, Distributed Energy Resources, GHG Emissions  -  March 18, 2024

California School Districts Add V2G Tech

Conejo Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) and the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), along with American Transportation — the school bus fleet operator servicing these students — will deploy Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology to support grid reliability and mitigate extreme weather events. 

The V2G technology will be funded by a grant that will demonstrate the benefits of zero-emission transportation solutions.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded BorgWarner Inc. and project partners Fermata Energy and The Lion Electric Company a $3 million grant for a V2G project. This initiative is set to bring grid-supporting and cost-saving V2G solutions for services provided by American Transportation to the California school districts, helping them in energy management and the transition to electric school buses.

V2G has the potential to play a part in the state's clean energy future by using excess power from solar and wind farms to charge during the day for use in the evening when demand is high.

By working with BorgWarner, Fermata Energy and Lion Electric, the CEC will support the strengthening and decarbonization of California’s grid while pairing a fleet of electric school buses with AI-powered V2G technology. This project will enable electric school bus batteries to support the grid with additional power during emergency events when parked and to generate revenue through participation in demand response programs and other value streams to lower the vehicles’ Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

The grant, funded through the CEC’s Clean Transportation Program, will include the installation of 21 BorgWarner 125 kW UL-listed, combined charging system (CCS) protocol bidirectionally enabled chargers, paired with a minimum of 20 LionD all-electric school buses. Fermata Energy’s Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) software platform will optimize and manage the charging and discharging of the buses to maximize grid benefits and V2X revenue for the school districts.

“The Conejo Valley Unified School District is proud to partner with American Transportation as an early adopter of electric buses, which will soon join the fleet of vehicles the CVUSD uses to transport our scholars to school and to extracurricular activities,” said Dr. Victor Hayek, Conejo Valley Unified School District’s Deputy Superintendent, in a statement. “This new sustainable technology will support this endeavor, with positive infrastructure and environmental impacts for our community – a big win-win.”

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