Electric School Buses get Extra Credits as Energy Storage
May 10, 2023
On average, school buses are parked for up to 18 hours a day during the school year and nearly three months over the summer. Why not give them another assignment for extra credit? When they aren’t being used to transport students, electric school buses can be used as mini, mobile sources of power via their battery storage. Experts are exploring advancements in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies. V2G technologies make use of bidirectional batteries (meaning energy goes in and out) that can store surplus energy and then return it to the grid during peak times of use. This is an important function as more renewable energy sources are added to the grid.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
May 11, 2023 at 9:09 am
I feel that people are glossing over a big problem with vehicle-to-grid, which is: what do people do when the power goes out?
Local power outage, short term power outage: no problem. Vehicles power the grid.
County-sized grid failure: I run out and unplug my car. Because I don’t know when and where I will be able to recharge it.
May 13, 2023 at 3:49 pm
I think if there’s a big grid failure, vehicle-based storage won’t be in use anyway. It’s benefit is in terms of regular load-leveling and peak demand.
With the long power outage in New Orleans after Ida, including no power to local gas pumps, my sister’s friend with a solar system could still charge at home plus share out electricity for neighbors’ EVs and phones. (New Orleans has since started developing “electric oases” to provide charging and air conditioning for those in need.)
May 13, 2023 at 3:50 pm
“Its”
*sigh*
May 13, 2023 at 3:41 pm
The Bloomberg video mentions charging time as an issue. For vehicles that are idle as long as school buses, and which would presumably have dedicated charging sites, I don’t see that as much of a hurdle.