Fleet Footed

Massachusetts' Highland Electric invests in electric mobility

Electric school buses in Beverly, Massachusetts provided energy back to the electricity grid for more than 80 hours this summer – helping to reinforce the grid during some of the hottest summer days when electricity was most in demand, according to an August 25 press release.

Working with technology partners Thomas Built Buses, Proterra, Rhombus, and Synop, Highland Electric Fleets, a provider of of fleet electrification-as-a-service, activated two Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley electric school buses equipped with Proterra Powered battery systems to provide more than seven megawatt hours (MWh) of energy to the electric grid as part of a commercial vehicle-to-grid (V2G) program with National Grid.

Over 32 grid events this summer, Highland's Beverly V2G deployment demonstrated the viability of electric buses as V2G resources, providing a template to scale the service at additional deployments in Vermont, Maryland, Colorado, California, Virginia and beyond.

"Electric school buses are ideal assets for V2G applications," said Sean Leach, director of technology and platform management at Highland. "Nearly 500,000 school buses in North America spend most of their time parked. Fossil fuel-powered buses provide no value when idle. Electric buses, on the other hand, can be used effectively as mobile batteries when not transporting students to provide additional power that supports grid stability and resiliency. We're excited to work with top-tier partners to scale V2G programs and benefits to other communities."