PROJECT Green OnRamp

A Project Green OnRamp and Friends initiative. [Logo]

Along with US Post Office (which is completely different imperative), school buses operate in virtually every zip code and community across the nation.   The benefits of Electric School Buses (ESBs) are well know and start with the air quality, reduced noise, operating costs and due to their duty cycles and typically being parked in the Summer months, late afternoons and overnight – can provide significant value to the grid and connected facilities.

We owe it to our children and communities to prioritize and accelerate the transition to an all electric school bus fleet. The dog ate my homework. No. No more excuses.

Funding is here. Today. As vehicle technology advances barriers are largely already in the review mirror, the success of Transportation Electrification increasingly on getting infrastructure right. Right now.

Electric School Buses Grid Gaps, ESBGG for short, are solvable and will require all stakeholders to to lean in, hard, to develop a universal and agreed up set of National principles for investment – public, private and utility in all of their 3000+ flavors.

This is an open book test and requires everyone to share their best answers. The nation’s children are counting on us and while there will be set backs, our success will not only benefit the school bus adoption – these principles must be durable and applicable to all public and private infrastructure deployments.

Are you in?

P.S. Just landed in Sacramento for Electric Vehicle Symposium 36. Not only is this the location for this year’s annual global gathering of technologies, ideas and celebration of industry progress… just down the street at the California Energy Commission is where on June 23, 2014 I had the privilege and honor of represented the amazing group of pioneers working to deploy the some of the very first ESBs (including grid ambitions!) as a panelist at the 2014 Integrated Energy Policy / IEPR Workshop

Nine years almost to the day! Time to remove any remaining excuses and get these amazing vehicles on the road.

2013 was an incredible year for the Electric Vehicle. Despite the work of so many naysayers, Electric Vehicles are here to stay and provide a long list of benefits.

Looking ahead a few years – what are the most important technologies and benefits EV’s offer? If you have followed Green OnRamp activities you’ll note continual the theme of making sure that EVs are an asset to the grid rather than a liability. Finding just the right balance of policy and cost effective incentives that are timed with the developing market is a tricky process.

One of the most powerful policy tools that couples financial incentives and building vehicles are Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) credits. These credits accrue to manufacturers that deliver vehicles in California and a growing list of States including Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Oregon and Vermont. Credits accrue based on vehicle capabilities such as range and powertrain characteristics.

Why not add additional credits for vehicles that are able to feed power back into the grid – AKA Vehicle to Grid?  Given the value of ZEV credits in the market, a partial credit is more than enough to spur development efforts while the early markets for electric vehicle grid services are getting defined.

Contact us to join the conversation with your policy makers.