CaaS provider AMPLY Power announced today that it is partnering with Unique Electric Solutions (UES) to equip school buses and trucks with electrification, charging services, and vehicle-to-grid capabilities. AMPLY Power will oversee the collaboration that also includes Rhombus Energy Solutions with vehicles provided by Logan Bus Company.
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The Lion Electric Company, a Quebec-based manufacturer of electric school buses, has successfully completed a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) pilot deployment of five school buses in White Plains, New York.
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In September, we reported on the tremendous news that Dominion Energy, an investor-owned utility operating in eight US states, would be buying a minimum of 1,050 V2G electric school buses over the next five years. The procurement would start with 50 school buses, then add 200 per year over five years.
Now the winner of the first phase has been announced, and congratulations are in order for Daimler’s Thomas Built Buses, who will be supplying 50 of its C2 Jouley all-electric buses (pictured above).
Gas generators still own the portable, emergency home-backup power space. Ten years ago there was a lot of hope and hype for using all the energy stored inside EVs’ batteries to power your entire house, but it hasn’t come to pass. No EV maker will sell you a bidirectional charger, outside of Japan and a handful of small utility pilots.
Meanwhile, the 2020 Ford F-150 will come with the option for its own built-in, onboard gas generator. And aftermarket companies, like Indiana’s Real AC power, offer sleek, chassis-integrated generator systems (pictured above) for internal combustion engine (ICE) trucks. EV makers ceded this space for unknown reasons. But now Tesla CEO Elon Musk has teased a 240V AC power outlet on the Cybertruck, something neither Rivian nor Bollinger have announced. We don’t know how many watts we can expect, though. So will the Tesla Cybertruck finally offer EV enthusiasts a path to navigate societal collapse? Or are we stuck with settling for “head’s up, you’re going to lose power” messages?
“The batteries on this bus go bi-directional!” That’s what kids in White Plains School District, just north of New York City, can boast this back-to-school season. The kids already enjoyed riding five clean, quiet all-electric Lion C-type Electric School Buses last school year, and now those same buses have been fitted with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) tech to allow the bus to serve as backup stationary storage for the grid when parked. As with most things electric, the east coast is following California’s lead, where kids in the Torrance Unified School Districts began breathing easy on V2G electric school buses in 2016. Expand
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Nissan announced a major vehicle-to-grid (V2G) trial project with Enel, a multinational power company, in the UK. The automaker has been exploring V2G systems almost as long as the Nissan LEAF program existed and its latest project is the first of its kind in the UK and one of the company’s biggest to date.
Nissan and Enel will install and connect 100 V2G units (see picture above) for Nissan LEAF and e-NV200 owners. Expand
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Nissan announced a partnership with Enel, Europe’s second largest power company for installed capacity, to develop a new “Vehicle-to-Grid” initiative to use, store and return to the grid electricity in excess from Nissan’s electric vehicles.
The initiative appears to be a revival of Nissan’s “LEAF to Home” program, which appears to have been abandoned years ago. Although the new program seems to be more focused on providing a service to the grid rather than backup power, which was the focus of “LEAF to Home”. Expand
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