PEKIN, Ill. — A new, first-of-its-kind electric bus was unveiled Tuesday in Pekin. The bus uses Nuuve’s vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, the first in North America.
The bus was delivered by BlueBird Corporation, one of the school bus industry leaders.
Two buses were unveiled Tuesday, one for Pekin Public School District and one for Hollis Consolidated School District.
The V2G technology used allows the school bus batteries to store energy and “sell” the energy back to the electric grid when demand calls for it.
Bus batteries can also store energy from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
The Nuvve V2G system can also be used to supply energy back to the school and intelligently charge the buses during non-peak hours to reduce peak-consumption energy costs.
“Our system allows electric school buses to perform to their fullest potential by providing grid services when plugged in and charging,” said Gregory Poilasne, chairman and CEO of Nuvve. “With our partners at Blue Bird, we’re on a mission to make the electrification of school buses more affordable and efficient, and our V2G platform positions us to do that.”
Pekin Mayor Mark Luft was also at the event Tuesday to speak about the importance the buses bring to Pekin.
“Two years ago, when we put this team together, we all made an agreement that Pekin was going to take the lead from here on out,” said Luft. “We’re going to do more of this — we will continue to move forward and do good things — I hope everyone pays attention, because Pekin is going to continue to stand out.”
Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) was also at the unveiling to speak of the significance.
“The environment, our children, our schools will be helped by this,” said Bustos. “Pekin is showing the way that I hope we can demonstrate in the rest of the country for how this can be done.”
Hollis Consolidated School District’s electric school bus purchase makes the district’s fleet 100% electric powered.
The districts are currently adding infrastructure and chargers to support their new zero-emissions buses, which were paid for by an electric bus grant from the Edwards Coal-Fired Plant Settlement.
