White Plains, New York, located near the border with Connecticut, saw the arrival of the state’s first five electric school buses in 2018. While the buses offer a quieter ride to and from school, plus cleaner emissions, there are now plans to use the electric buses in the summer months, reports Yale Climate Connections.
Ari Kahn from Con Edison, a utility company that serves the White Plains area, reported that the utility is leading a pilot project to use White Plains’ buses as a backup energy source.
Yale Climate Connections reported that in the summertime, the school buses there are sitting idle and not being used. Therefore, Con Edison suggested that when the buses are not being driven, they can be charged up at night, and then the electricity that is stored in the batteries can be returned to the electric grid, as needed.
Kahn said this pilot project could help meet the demands for electricity during peak times when air conditioning systems are running during hot afternoons. While one bus does not provide a large amount of power, it could be scaled up, it was reported.
The utility company would also pay for the electricity, which would help cut the costs of the electric school bus for many school districts.
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