By EnergyTech Staff

Blue Bird Corporation has received an order from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for 180 electric, zero-emission school buses. This order represents the single largest order of electric school buses from a school district in the company’s history and will help the school district transition the first of several depots to 100 per cent electric student transportation.

Currently, LAUSD operates 26 Blue Bird electric school buses in its fleet, and this order will deliver 30 Vision and 150 All-American electric buses. The school district anticipates delivery of the first buses in October 2024 and for the order to be fulfilled in early 2025.

“Los Angeles Unified is excited to move toward the electrification of our Sun Valley Bus Yard school buses,” said LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. “We must fully commit ourselves to creating a model of sustainability that benefits our students, our school communities, and generations to come.”

Both the Vision and All-American models have a range of up to 130 miles on a single charge, and, based on LAUSD’s future charging infrastructure, the buses will take between 3 and 8 hours to achieve a full charge.

The Blue Bird electric buses also come standard with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities. This bi-directional charging technology will allow LAUSD to sell excess energy stored in school bus batteries back to the electric power companies for profit.

Additionally, the V2G programme will help balance demand on the grid and improve grid resiliency.

“We are thrilled to provide safe, reliable, and – above all – clean student transportation to the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest in the nation,” said CEO of Blue Bird Phil Horlock. “Demand for low- and zero-emission school buses remains strong across the United States, [and] Blue Bird will continue to meet and exceed our customer expectations.”