FirstEnergy subsidiary Potomac Edison has submitted a five-year Electric School Bus Pilot Program proposal to the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) which the utility says will support Maryland’s Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, which requires any new school buses contracted or purchased by public school systems in the state to have zero emissions.
To aid in the electric school bus (ESB) transition across Potomac Edison’s Maryland service territory, the company will provide:
- Financial incentives for school districts to acquire and deploy ESBs.
- Reimbursements for EV charging infrastructure and IT-related costs associated with the transition to ESBs.
- Assessments of grid capacity and other technical and administrative support.
- Connection to the Potomac Edison electric grid including coverage of all related costs.
“We believe the data collected during the pilot will allow us to better understand how we can help meet our school districts’ evolving transportation and electrification needs and ultimately help the districts save money in the long run,” said Don McGettigan, acting President of FirstEnergy’s Maryland Operations. “Our pilot program is also intended to help the state meet climate goals by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which will create cleaner air and improve overall health in local communities we serve.”
The public school districts that opt to participate in the pilot program, will receive funding that reduces the cost difference between an electric school bus and an equivalent diesel-fueled bus. The electric buses will also be equipped with lap and shoulder belts for students to comply with a new state safety law.
“Approval of the initiative by the PSC also will enable us to explore opportunities to use the stored energy in electric school bus batteries to address electricity needs during grid emergencies, potentially yielding positive outcomes for all our customers in the future,” said McGettigan.
The pilot follows the PSC’s consent to extend Potomac Edison’s electric vehicle program EV Driven, originally approved in 2019, which is meant to help make EV ownership and charging easier and more accessible throughout Maryland.
In 2022, Potomac Edison began testing the use of a 500-kW/1-MWh battery installed alongside two Direct current fast chargers (DCFC) and one charging station. DCFC can charge most electric vehicles up to 80% in under an hour, but they have a significant draw on the grid when doing so – which the test was meant to address.
The Level 2 charging station at the site can accommodate two vehicles for simultaneous charging and delivers eight to 24 miles of range per hour of charging, said the utility in a press release. The system includes a 500-KW battery that provides uninterruptable electric vehicle charging and reduces the load drawn from the grid by powering the charging stations during peak demand times. In the event of an outage, the charging stations also will be energized by the battery-supplied energy. The battery system is expected to be able to provide approximately eight hours of uninterrupted EV charging.
