Student transportation provider First Student is working with New York power company Con Edison to demonstrate a Smart Energy Hub that will support the electrification of school buses in Brooklyn.
First Student has approximately 2,000 electric school buses under contract to school districts across the US, and more than 360 used EVs.
The Brooklyn project will include a fleet of 12 electric school buses, which will be equipped with solar panels, and will replace the diesel buses at First Student on Malta Street. The panels, along with solar arrays on the facility's roof, will be part of a generation, battery storage and power delivery system that can shift loads to off-peak periods and/or provide backup power in the event of an outage.
For this project, First Student will use its First Charge solution, a wireless charging method that the company says reduces construction costs by at least 30% and enables more efficient deployment.
This project includes V2X capabilities (aka a small grid). “V2X goes beyond simply plugging an electric school bus's batteries back into the grid, expanding instead to include the ability to direct the delivery of electricity where it's needed,” explains First Student. “During the summer months, when buses are not running, and power needs to be increased, or during emergencies, a smart power hub greatly increases capacity, generating more power for Con Edison.”
“First Student's unmatched battery capacity and First Charge's enabling technology solve an urgent need in many American communities: affordable, clean electricity that maximizes the capabilities of existing power grids,” said First Student CEO and President John Kenning. “We are doing this while giving students a better chance by putting more electric buses on the roads, creating a safer, more enjoyable ride that is healthier for children and the environment.”
“Our company is leading the industry in moving students, now we are showing the world how electrons are moved. “We're proving that an efficient, cost-effective microgrid is possible, and we're doing it using bus batteries that would otherwise be silent,” said First Student Senior Engineer Alex Cook. “We have learned from successful trials in many other applications including First Student's charging infrastructure and unique energy storage options and dynamic load management software.”
Source: First Student