Nuvve K-12 Powers Ramona Unified School District V2G Project
This Ramona Unified School District V2G project in San Diego County began with eight electric school buses and four organizations coming together to deliver a successful deployment. RUSD, San Diego Gas & Electric, Blue Bird and Nuvve K-12 were all motivated to provide students and bus drivers with clean, quiet and healthier commutes; reliable charging for bus routes; and a lower lifetime cost of ownership for the school district through the fleet’s vehicle-to-grid electricity exports.
By October 2022, the partners were ready to commission the fleet and eight Nuvve heavy-duty DC fast chargers equipped with Nuvve’s GIVe™ V2G technology. VIPs and media assembled at the Ramona transportation yard to celebrate the milestone.
“The introduction of electric school buses helps put Ramona on the map by showing that even small communities are playing important roles in the creation of a safer, cleaner future for our children and the planet,” said Rena Seifts, the former RUSD assistant superintendent who retired in January 2023.
“Electric school buses are a perfect match for V2G technology because of their large onboard batteries,” said SDG&E Clean Transportation Director Jeni Reynolds. “These zero-emissions vehicles not only help improve air quality, they can also help meet our community’s energy needs by putting electricity back on the grid when parked.”
Three months prior, in July 2022, SDG&E had announced that its Emergency Load Reduction Program would apply to electric school bus batteries allowing them to be utilized as a source of dispatchable electricity during grid emergencies called by the California Independent System Operator. This was an important condition for the successful launch, and Nuvve K-12 and SDG&E worked closely to enable the interconnection between the Nuvve V2G fast chargers and SDG&E grid.
Nuvve K-12 has continued to integrate school district electric fleets like Ramona’s with its charge management and V2G platform and provide turnkey services from site planning through commissioning and ongoing operation. Our team and technology prioritizes each school bus battery’s availability for its daily routes and provides transportation directors with our FleetBox tool to give them visibility and control over their electric bus fleet charging and discharging.
When grid conditions and FleetBox parameters allow, Nuvve’s technology intelligently charges the buses at low rates and sells a portion of the excess energy back to the grid when rates are higher.
V2G proceeds help districts to offset the upfront costs of charging infrastructure and/or reduce the cost of operating their ESBs allowing them to economize on the transition to a zero-emissions fleet and save money in the long run.
