The Economics of School Bus Fleet Electrification with Battery Storage

School districts will be challenged by the transition of their existing fleets to electric. Initial bus costs are nearly twice as expensive as internal combustion engine buses, and some schools already face high electricity bills from campus load. How electric fleet charging will affect electricity bills is largely undocumented, as few fleets have fully transitioned. Franklin Pierce School District was the first school district in the state of Washington to purchase an electric bus, thus becoming the case study subject to assess potential avenues for operational and capital savings by employing smart fleet charging and stationary battery storage. Given the high cost, battery storage may not be cost effective for demand charge reduction alone, but utilities may want to consider battery storage subsidization instead of incurring costly or intermittent resource supply additions.