RENO, Nev. – The Green Bus Summit at STN EXPO Reno included a range of sessions on fleet electrification, propane usage, and technology integration, as well as an interactive Ride & Drive event to get student transporters up close and personal with the latest in clean school buses and related technology.
The Green Bus Summit opened on Sunday with a panel led by STN Publisher and President Tony Corpin on the scalability of electric school buses (ESBs). It also included Craig Beaver, administrator for transportation at Beaverton School District in Oregon; Cian Fields, manager for school fleet electrification for Boston Public Schools; and Alex Cook, chief engineer for national contractor First Student and the 2022 STN Innovator of the Year.
Leadership in Action: How Collaboration Can Define the Future
IC Bus
Justina Morosin, vice president and general manager of IC Bus, next addressed facets of leadership and how several veterans of the student transportation industry have been helping to improve safety and service. She added that each STN EXPO attendee in the room can have an impact on making these even better as the industry moves forward, especially in the area of fleet electrification.
“Each of us is responsible for driving the future of student transportation,” she declared.
The Benefits of a Turnkey Solution for Fleet Electrification
Blue Bird
Steven Whaley, alternative fuels manager for Blue Bird’s eastern region, explained Clean Bus Solutions (CBS), the joint venture between Blue Bird and Generate Capitol to produce a turnkey solution for fleet electrification.
“It’s complex, this transition,” acknowledged Neil Taylor, Blue Bird’s clean fuels lead. He confirmed the CSB covers everything from initial planning, grants, bus acquisition, chargers, support, and more.
“We keep making moves to make it easier for you to move to electric,” declared Brad Beauchamp, EV project segment leader for Blue Bird. He highlighted the ways Blue Bird’s electric buses, dealers, and support are unchanged from what customers are used to, and how training is provided for new aspects.
“We take a holistic look at what works for each [school district] location,” explained Michael Robinson, director of strategic market business development and microgrids for energy management company PowerFlex, which has deployed over 12,000 EV charging stations nationwide. “Our goal is that you don’t have to talk to anyone other than us and CBS.”
“We don’t see this EV thing slowing down,” Beauchamp stated, adding that the CBS will be there for the long haul. In answer to school district attendee concerns on maintenance, warranty and training for their ESBs, he reiterated that dealers are there to support them.
Oakland USD’s EV and V2G Electrification at Scale
Zum
Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) Executive Director of Transportation Kimberly Raney was joined by STN’s 2024 Innovator of the Year and Zum’s Director of Electrification and Project Management, Pallav Prakash, along with his COO Vivek Garg.
The panel explained the process of taking the OUSD 74-bus fleet electric starting in 2021, with Garg reiterating that equity and student support was the goal. Prakash urged attendees to start infrastructure site plans, utility relationships, and grant applications early. “We have got all sorts of grants stacked together for the Oakland project,” he shared.
Garg advised being strategic and flexible about the bus charging site location, as in OUSD concessions had to be made depending on where trenching and power could be added. The panel also addressed getting buy-in from district administration and being fiscally responsible due to the high cost of ESBs and related infrastructure. Raney noted that V2G (vehicle-to-grid) was a good business decision for the district.
She added that Zum was an invaluable partner. “In Oakland we have budget problems. I had a beer budget with caviar taste,” she quipped. “It was important to me to say, this is everything I want and this is how much money I have. … It allowed Zum and the bidders to be creative – and it showed who was really in it for the kids.”
Exploring Contemporary Materials, Methods, Systems and Structures for EV School Bus Safety
GreenPower Motor
GreenPower’s President Brendan Riley gave an overview similar to the one he gave at STN EXPO Indy on the company’s building and testing methods to create a rugged, sturdy electric school bus that is structurally and operationally safe.
Many of the company’s ESB components and manufacturing are also used in aircraft and space craft, he said. Data collected during the rollover test and video taken from inside the bus showed that there was no structural damage.
The battery is likewise safe, sustainable, non-toxic and not caustic.
Riley explained that the company aimed to build an overall excellent school bus, with benefits like better HVAC due to less air leakage and more cargo space.
In answer to an attendee question on Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) requirements for federal funding, Phillip Burgoyne-Allen with the WRI’s Electric School Bus Initiative noted that those applied for charging infrastructure but not ESBs themselves.
What Do I Do With All of this Data? Using Artificial Intelligence and Business Intelligence Tools in Student Transportation
Geotab/Tyler Technologies
Craig Berndt, segment manager for student transportation at Geotab, discussed how the tremendous amount of data in school buses — such as student ridership tracking, video cameras, telematics, ESB battery tracking, and more — can assist with everything from digital vehicle inspections, to student information systems, tracking fuel usage and funding, safety metrics, and beyond.
“It’s important to get the resources you need and to represent what you’re doing to district leadership,” he said.
Ted Thien, vice president and general manager of transportation software for Tyler Technologies, tackled the subject of AI and how student transporters can utilize it. “Machine learning is like teaching your dog to fetch, except your dog is a computer and fetching is recognizing patterns in data,” he commented.
While no student transporter should be putting confidential student information into ChatGPT seeking shortcuts, Thien and Berndt shared that AI has use cases such as making bus maintenance suggestions to reduce downtime, identifying hazardous road areas to create safe and efficient routes, predicting a driver’s likelihood of getting into an accident based on driving history, and more.
The key, they said, is utilizing AI for the tool that it is and training it to be more accurate and save staff time. “Artificial intelligence isn’t going to take away your job, people who know how to use artificial intelligence are going to take your job,” Berndt commented.
Special Product Launch Announcement
Micro Bird
Just before the Sunday lunch break, Micro Bird’s President and CEO Eric Boule unveiled the new electric G5e Type A school bus, which he said is a simplified bus with greater power capacity. It offers 140 and 175 kWh options, a range of up to 200 miles, regenerative braking, V2G capability, telematics, and safety features. Delivery will begin next March. A prototype was available to experience during the Ride & Drive that evening.
Why the Solution is Propane AND Electric Bus Fleets
Propane Education & Research Council
Transportation Director Kerry Duskin, Th.D., from Roosevelt School District in Phoenix, Arizona, and Administrator for Transportation Craig Beaver from Beaverton School District in Oregon participated in a lunchtime panel to share how and why they use propane and ESBs in their bus fleets.
Steelton-Highspire’s Strategic Investment in an EV Fleet
First Student
One of North American’s largest school transportation contractors, First Student recently announced it is electrifying 30,000 of its buses by 2035. Head of Electrification Kevin Matthews said many of these new ESBs are running in Quebec, Canada, which is no stranger to cold weather. He noted that one of the main goals of the Environmental Protection Agency Clean School Bus Program is getting electric school buses into districts across the country, an endeavor First Student is assisting with.
Superintendent Mick Iskric shared that at the historically underfunded Steelton-Highspire School District in Pennsylvania, he looks for ways to save money and put it back in the classroom. The district became the first and only in the state to take its bus fleet all-electric and be entirely solar powered. A $2.1 million rebate from EPA CSB Round 1 allowed the district to get six electric buses, after which it implemented First Student’s FlexCharge charging solution.
The district had to invest $90,000 to get the buses operational, which could have been a teacher salary, but Iskric said that has paid for itself in fuel savings and is also better for student health. He added that he supports EV integration since it is a fast-growing field of study and is a pathway to more jobs and careers.
Iskric advised looping in parents and the school board for endeavors like electrification to achieve smooth implementation and eventual business success. “Take those little wins and get those big results,” he said.
He shared aspects of ESBs that he considers “little wins” which turn out to be good for the district. The school bus batteries are charged through solar energy and provide a backup power source in the event of an outage or emergency. The district is also looking to serve as a public charging station and could attract teachers by offering free car charging.
“What’s best for kids is the bottom line in every decision we make,” he summed up.
Matthews addressed the lack of interoperability where buses are too often incompatible with chargers and called on both bus and infrastructure manufacturers to work together for the greater good. “We can play in the sandbox together doing what’s best for kids,” Iskric agreed.
Related: (STN Podcast E214) From Green Buses to Hypnosis: Recap School Bus Convos at STN EXPO Indy
Related: Electric School Bus Manufacturing Included in Nearly $2B Federal Energy Grant
Related: (STN Podcast E217) From Submariner to Innovator of the Year: Fleet Electrification for Student Success
Related: Zum’s Prakash Accepts Innovator of the Year Award at STN EXPO
Related: Gallery: Student Transporters Connect With Industry Suppliers at STN EXPO Indy Trade Show
Best Practices with Student Ridership
Transfinder
Sales Engineering Lead Zach Moren shared that the average school bus ridership in North America is 80 percent for elementary school students, 70 percent for middle schoolers, and 50 to 60 percent for high schoolers.
He made the case for why student ridership tracking balances efficiency with customer service by allowing transportation departments to not waste bus seats on non-riders and alleviate parental concerns on their children’s real-time locations.
“Each alert that goes out is a phone call that’s not going to your transportation department,” he said.
The technology also increases safety by ensuring only authorized persons are let onto the bus. It additionally tracks student attendance and makes it easy to report to state authorities where required.
Marrying the technology with tablets, Moren said, lets drivers see updates in real-time and provides a backup recording method for students who may lose their RFID cards. Transfinder also has Employee ID options for time and attendance, door access, and similar.
Navigating Infrastructure for Your Electric Bus Fleet
Pioneer eMobility
Scott Bradley, director of sales & strategic partnership for Pioneer eMobility, reviewed the pitfalls of a delayed electric school bus infrastructure grid, which puts districts in a Catch-22 if they must dispose of diesel buses and infrastructure before they can acquire and start running ESBs. He showed a sample timeline in which the latter could take two to three years.
He reviewed the validity of options that districts are considering. The federal funding is flowing now so delaying ESB purchases may mean missing out on that money, he cautioned. But buying the ESBs now and not using them risks battery degradation.
Off-grid charging is the best option for districts without adequate EV infrastructure, he said, with one good option being the offering by the Propane Energy and Research Council since it runs on safe, easily accessible propane autogas. Pioneer eMobility also offers several versions of its e-Boost off-grid EV charging solution, in various sizes and powers. These chargers also serve as backups in cases of inclement weather or other interruptions to the power grid in the area. Additionally, districts can utilize them during peak on-grid charging hours for more cost savings.
“Analytics and diagnostics are critical,” Bradley declared. He reviewed the types of chargers and charging times required for the electric buses offered by all the major school bus manufacturers. Districts with mixed fleets face more challenges in making sure there is adequate power for all their vehicles, he cautioned.
Setting A Path to Power Solutions
Cummins, Accelera
Francisco Lagunas, general manager of North American bus operations for Cummins, was joined by Richard Garvin, the company’s director of strategy & commercial business development, and Augusto Tubino, senior gas sales executive for power generation.
They explored the school bus power source options currently on the market, dove into what districts need to know about implementing new infrastructure, and gave insights on how to navigate government funding opportunities like the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program.
Ride & Drive
The day closed with an interactive Ride & Drive event which allowed attendees to get up close and personal with some of the clean energy school buses they had been learning about.
