Ten school district customers have received a combined $24,155,000 in funding through the EPA Clean School Bus Rebate Program to support the deployment of 61 electric, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capable school buses and chargers in disadvantaged school districts across the United States. Nuvve Holding Corp. and its school district customers will now begin activating their site design and development plans, procurement of Nuvve V2G-capable DC fast chargers and partner electric school buses (ESB). The majority of the funded programs are expected to be operational in 2023.
The rebates cover a total of $1.22 million in funding for Nuvve’s high-powered, bidirectional chargers, charging infrastructure and site design and development services, plus $22.9 million in funding for 61 ESBs manufactured by Nuvve’s partners: Blue Bird, Lion Electric and IC Bus.
“As a country and a planet, we must continue to innovate our way forward as we shift away from diesel and other polluting fuels and power sources,” says Gregory Poilasne, Nuvve CEO and chairman. “Nuvve pioneered V2G technology in the U.S. and around the world. We’re glad the EPA is funding V2G-capable electric school buses as a smart investment in better renewable energy integration and grid reliability, as well as cleaner commutes for kids.”
Rebates are flowing to Nuvve’s school district customers in Arizona, Texas and California. California’s state regulatory agency recently added ESBs to an existing five-year pilot program known as the Emergency Load Reduction Program. Under ELRP, excess electricity discharged during grid emergencies earns $2 per kWh. Nuvve has two school districts and 14 active V2G chargers in San Diego County currently participating in the program, in addition to existing V2G deployments in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Hampshire and New York.
V2G-capable ESBs can generate additional revenues while also providing resiliency to the grid. This deployment of 61 ESBs could earn potential future grid service revenues of $4.4 million over the estimated useful life of the vehicle, depending on prevailing utility electric rates and rate structures, and assuming a maximum battery capacity of 155 kWh and 60 kW of charging station capacity.
Nuvve’s proprietary GIVe software platform manages the vehicle charging and discharging, using predictive analytics to ensure bus batteries have more than enough charge for their scheduled routes. GIVe also meets the highest certification standards recognized by America’s leading utility providers to ensure its interoperability with other systems utilities use to manage distributed energy resources such as battery storage, rooftop solar and more.
“V2G is a world-class technology that all school districts need to embrace. When we learned how we could improve the air our students and drivers breathe while also generating a steady source of revenue for our district, we were sold,” states Katie Delano, director of transportation services for Coalinga-Huron Unified School District, a district of 11 schools and 4,500 students in Fresno County, Calif. “Nuvve has been there with us throughout this process, and we look forward to leaning on their expertise from site design to deployment.”
