Vehicle-to-Grid Electric School Bus Commercialization Project

Technical Report · Thu Mar 31 04:00:00 EDT 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1959341· OSTI ID:1959341

Moore, Andy ^[1]; Crolius, Steve ^[2]

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1. Blue Bird Corporation, Fort Valley, GA (United States); Blue Bird Corporation
2. Blue Bird Corporation, Fort Valley, GA (United States)

The Vehicle-to-Grid Electric School Bus Commercialization Project was chartered to advance the idea that the batteries in electric vehicles can play a valuable role in supporting the electric grid. As deployment of wind and solar generating resources accelerates to provide an ever-greater share of the nation’s electricity, concurrent investment in solutions that can offset their inherent intermittency will be necessary. Many types of energy storage systems have been proposed, and more than one type will find an economic fit in the grid of the future. Electric vehicle batteries have the potential to provide grid support services in an advantaged manner. The project’s method of exploring this proposition called for development and demonstration of a fleet of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) electric school buses. School buses were chosen because their energy storage capacity is large relative light-duty vehicles; they are typically domiciled in fleet settings; and the number of hours per year they are available for grid support services is high on an absolute basis (generally 80-85% of the hours in a year) and relative to other categories of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.

• Research Organization: Blue Bird Corporation, Fort Valley, GA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO)
• DOE Contract Number: EE0007995
• OSTI ID: 1959341
• Report Number(s): EE0007995-FTR
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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