Electrification Coalition produces guide for v2X electric school buses

The Electrification Coalition has teamed up with SAFE, a nonprofit policy thought leadership organization, to release a guide for using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) electric school buses.

The publication, called the V2X Implementation Guide: Implementation Guide and Mutual Aid Agreement Template for Using Vehicle-to-Everything-Enabled Electric School Buses as Mobile Power Units to Enhance Resilience During Emergencies, is available for free download.

V2X, or bi-directional charging, means that buses can be used as “mobile power units” to provide backup power to emergency shelters and other critical facilities. Because electric school busses (ESBs) have an average battery capacity of 150 kilowatt-hours, a V2X-enabled ESB can provide backup power to a critical facility, such as a school serving as a shelter, for nearly two days and to critical loads for multiple hours, if not longer.

The newly released guide consists of steps that emergency managers and responders, as well as other key stakeholders — like school districts, school facility managers, and electric utilities — can take to deploy bidirectionally enabled ESBs to provide emergency backup power.

“As we transition away from our dependence on oil and toward electric vehicles of all types, electric school buses not only reduce the air pollution that our children breathe but can also provide valuable benefits during emergencies,” Electrification Coalition Executive Director Ben Prochazka said. “Hospitals, shelters, and other vital services can utilize V2X-enabled buses to keep people safe, particularly in underserved communities, which are often hit hardest by extreme weather events.”

It also includes a mutual aid agreement template so that ESBs can be readily deployed as mobile power units during emergencies.

The V2X Implementation Guide was written by the Electrification Coalition and SAFE. It was made possible through funding from the World Resources Institute’s Electric School Bus Initiative.

The Electrification Coalition is a nonprofit organization that promotes policies and actions to facilitate the widespread adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (EVs).