The days when diesel fumes choked the air for hundreds of Bay Area students appear to be on the horizon, thanks to a partnership deal struck by the Oakland Unified School District.
In a Facebook post Thursday, Oakland Unified announced it is the first school district in the country to use an all-electric bus fleet after partnering with electric bus startup Zūm.
American Lung Association. The Bay Area was recently named one of The 25 most polluted urban areas in the country With year-round particulate matter or soot pollution, it is the fifth worst city in the country.
“Auckland families are disproportionately disadvantaged and impacted by high rates of asthma and exposure to air pollution caused by diesel fuel,” said Kim Raney, executive director of transportation at Auckland Unified. “Providing our students with cleaner, quieter transportation in electric school buses will be a game-changer, ensuring they have a fair and stronger chance at success in the classroom.”
The district’s fleet consists of 74 electric buses and two-way chargers that can return power to the grid.
In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation requiring all newly purchased or leased public school buses to be zero-emissions starting in 2035, with some exceptions for rural school districts giving them extra time. The state also offers grants and other benefits as an incentive to cover district costs.
Over the past two decades, the state has spent or allocated $1.2 billion to clean up its aging diesel school bus fleet. The governor’s office says an additional $1.8 billion is planned over the next five years for zero-emission buses and charging infrastructure.
Oakland Unified’s new school buses remove an estimated 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases from the environment annually, according to the company. They operate like “virtual power plants” or VPPs, returning approximately 2.1 gigawatt-hours of energy to the grid by charging overnight and powering the electric batteries during times of high usage.
“Buses are the ideal power source, sitting idle during the day and during peak energy usage hours,” Jenny Mayfield, Zoom’s vice president of communications, said in an email. “So, they can offload the grid and supply power at these times.”
The company began working with Oakland Unified in 2020. The district transports more than 1,300 students — athletes, special needs and others — daily. Oakland previously used its iconic yellow diesel buses to transport 15 or fewer students per trip, according to Zoom. More than 70% of these students were in transit for more than one hour.
Zūm’s AI technology has allowed it to take express routes and reduce the number of unused buses. Now about 97% of Auckland students travel in less than an hour, and half of them finish in 20 minutes or less, according to the company.
Zūm tracks bus energy use through its AI-powered platform that monitors operational requirements inputs, battery charge levels and grid power requirements to determine when to pull power from buses, Mayfield said. Most buses will offload back onto the network between 5pm and 9pm
Ritu Narayan, founder and CEO of Zūm, said it was time to “move beyond pilot projects” and toward large-scale sustainable solutions.
“Converting Oakland Unified’s school bus fleet to 100% electric with VPP capability is the right step in this direction,” Narayan said in a statement. “This historic achievement is a win-win proposition: electric school buses with V2G technology provide students with cleaner, smoke-free transportation and allow us to send untapped energy from bus batteries back to the grid, creating a huge impact on grid resilience.”
Zūm buses are also used in Los Angeles County, such as in Duarte uniform And in Rosemead Garvey School District.
