The Oakland Unified School District in northern California has taken delivery of an all-electric bus fleet of 74 vehicles that will decarbonize its transportation fleet and also provide power back into the grid.
Zum deployed the order for the Oakland school district. The Redwood City, California-based company is focused on shifting school bus fleets—the nation’s largest mass transit system—into carbon free electric vehicles.
Earlier this year, the company was awarded $32 million by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus Program to deploy more than 110 EV buses across the U.S. The Oakland school district and Zum announced their agreement this year also.
The Oakland USD EV fleet is also equipped with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology to help the buses return energy to the grid. The all-EV fleet will decarbonize student transportation and send 2.1 GWh of energy back to the grid annually.
Each bus consists of its own bidirectional charger, managed through an AI-enabled Virtual Power Plant (VPP). Oakland's EV fleet will help remove 25,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases from the environment.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company worked with Zum to complete the site, which involved infrastructure upgrades and other equipment to power 74 bi-directional EV chargers. PG&E was able to provide 2.7 MW of load to Zum's Oakland EV-ready facility in record time, allowing the project to be deployed one year ahead of schedule.
Other partners involved in the electrification of the OUSD fleet include the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean School Bus program, California Air Resources Board (CARB), Heavy Vehicle Incentive Program (HVIP) vouchers, Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) and Clean Mobility Options (CMO) programs.
"With funding to Zum of over $35 million for California school districts, EPA is proud to be advancing the rollout of electric school buses here in Oakland and across our state, helping create a future where our children can breathe cleaner air," said EPA Pacific Southwest Deputy Regional Administrator Cheree Peterson. "I've seen firsthand the advantages of these electric buses, with the absence of noxious diesel emissions benefiting students, school staff, and neighboring communities."
Zum intends to electrify 10,000 bidirectional school buses to create the potential to supply 300 GWh of energy to local power grids annually. The company also plans to deploy 100 percent electric fleets across the country in the future.
