About the Topic

This Event explores Darcy’s refreshed technology landscape for medium- and heavy-duty vehicle electrification. It focuses on battery electric buses (BEB)—covering the following:

• Different charging needs for school buses versus transit buses
• Managed charging for BEB
• Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) for BEB
• Specific case studies of BEB charging utility programs

The Event also hones in specifically on school buses. Big yellow buses are a ubiquitous sign of children’s education in North America—they’ve been around for decades, transporting youngsters to and from school, field trips, and the occasional summer camp. Driven by increased federal funding from the EPA Clean School Bus Program, GHG reduction goals, and positive health and environmental impacts for students, WRI reports that over 12,000 electric school buses have been committed, and roughly 4,600 electric school buses are delivered or in operation.

Source: World Resources Institute

As BEB adoption and vehicle grid integration (VGI) advance, these school buses are becoming a strong use case for managed charging and V2G due to their predictable route cycles, large scale batteries, and availability to plug in during both peak and off-peak times.

About the Innovators

Synop offers fleets end-to-end software solutions that optimize EV charging and energy management. Using AI-based platform automation, telematics integrations, and real-time monitoring tools, Synop deploys a vendor-agnostic software suite, which includes managed charging, energy management (VPP/V2G capabilities), vehicle management, and payment management, to maximize fleet uptime, minimize charging costs, and generate revenue through smart grid participation.

Highland Electric Fleets offers electrification-as-a-service for school districts, governments, and fleet operators in North America. Highland’s solution suite includes everything needed to electrify a fleet from planning a project to procuring buses and chargers to paying for electricity to charge the buses.