PG&E Helps Zum Deploy Nation’s First 100% Electric School Bus Fleet in Oakland for New School Year

Zūm today announced that it has deployed an all-electric fleet of school buses in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), making it the first major school district in the U.S. to transition to a 100% electrified school bus system. This first-in-the-nation EV fleet is also equipped with groundbreaking vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, enabling the buses to return energy to the grid at scale when not in use. 

Zum is deploying a fleet of 74 electric school buses in Oakland, each with its own bidirectional charger, managed via an AI-enabled Virtual Power Plant (VPP). The all-EV fleet will decarbonize student transportation while sending 2.1 gigawatt hours of energy back to the grid annually.

“Today marks an exciting milestone in student transportation,” said Ritu Narayan, founder and CEO of Zum. “By converting Oakland Unified’s school bus fleet to 100% electric, we are proving the case for sustainable transportation. Our electric school buses will also send untapped energy from bus batteries back to the grid, boosting Oakland’s power infrastructure. It’s a win-win for children, families, schools, drivers, and the entire community.”

Student transportation is the largest mass transit system in the nation, moving 27 million students twice daily. Today, over 90% of the nation’s 500,000 school buses run on carbon-based fuels, releasing over 8.4 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, exposing students and communities to harmful fumes. Oakland’s EV fleet will remove 25,000 metric tons of greenhouse gasses from the environment, which will have a major positive impact on the community. 

“OUSD is proud to lead the way with safe and sustainable transportation for our students,” said Superintendent Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell of Oakland Unified School District. “This is a landmark achievement, especially in Oakland, where families are disproportionately impacted by exposure to air pollution and high rates of asthma and other respiratory ailments. Zum's electric school buses provide our students quieter, cleaner rides to and from school, giving them a better chance at success in the classroom, while ensuring the District is doing its part to cut down on air pollution to the benefit of all Oakland residents."

Zum’s utility partner, PG&E, worked closely with Zum to complete the site, which involved extensive infrastructure upgrades and other equipment to power 74 bi-directional EV chargers. PG&E was able to provide 2.7 megawatts of load to Zum’s Oakland EV-ready facility in record time, allowing this project to be deployed one year ahead of schedule.

“Converting to electric transportation reduces the leading cause of emissions and has the potential to offer a flexible power supply that benefits all customers,” said PG&E Corporation CEO Patti Poppe. “Our partnership with Zum and Oakland Unified on their fully electric school bus fleet is a blueprint for schools across California and the nation to better serve our students, local communities and, ultimately, our planet.”

Zum applied to PG&E’s EV Fleet Program to electrify the OUSD charging depot.

PG&E’s EV Fleet Program helps customers with medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in their fleets to install cost-effective charging infrastructure to save money, reduce tailpipe emissions and simplify maintenance.

PG&E worked with Zum for 2-years to complete the site which involved infrastructure upgrades including installing a new transformer, several new poles, more than 150 ft of underground infrastructure (trenching/conduit/conductor) and other equipment (interrupter, circuit fuses) to power the 74 bi-directional EV chargers. Through the EV Fleet Program, PG&E has provided all of the infrastructure up to the meter, which results in 2.7 MW of capacity. Through EV Fleet, PG&E is also providing incentives including: up to $100,000 to reduce the cost of Zum building the charging infrastructure required from the meter to the charging stations and more than $1,000,000 in rebates to help defray the cost of the charging stations.

Other partners that have been critical to the electrification of the OUSD fleet include the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean School Bus program, California Air Resources Board (CARB), Heavy Vehicle Incentive Program (HVIP) vouchers, Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) and Clean Mobility Options (CMO) programs.

“With funding to Zum of over $35 million, EPA is proud to be advancing the rollout of electric school buses here in Oakland and across our state, helping create a future where our children can breathe cleaner air,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Deputy Regional Administrator Cheree Peterson. “I’ve seen firsthand the advantages of these electric buses, with the absence of noxious diesel emissions benefiting students, school staff, and neighboring communities. Thanks to the unprecedented federal investments in this technology, more zero-emissions school buses will be on the road in Oakland.”

Zum has set a goal of electrifying 10,000 bidirectional school buses which will create the potential to supply 300 gigawatt hours of energy to local power grids annually. Plans are already underway for Zum to deploy 100% electric fleets in San Francisco Unified and Los Angeles Unified in the coming years.