Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), in collaboration with Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) and The Mobility House, has launched a new vehicle-to-grid (V2G) electric school bus fleet. This initiative aims to improve clean transportation, grid resilience, and student health in California.
The project includes the installation of 22 electric vehicle chargers at FUSD. These consist of 14 previously installed low-power chargers, six high-power bidirectional V2G direct current fast chargers, and two additional high-power unidirectional chargers scheduled for 2026. The infrastructure supports a fleet of 14 electric school buses—four Thomas Built and ten Blue Bird models—and will replace six internal combustion engine buses over time.
Four new electric buses are entering service this year, with two more planned for deployment in 2026.
“This project is a shining example of how innovation creates a cleaner, smarter energy future,” said Mike Delaney, Vice President, Utility Partnership and Innovation at PG&E. “We’re proud to support Fremont USD and school districts across California as they convert to better, electrified student transportation.”
The Mobility House leads the project under the California Energy Commission-funded Replicable Vehicle-to-X Deployment Study (RVXDS). Its intelligent charge management platform, ChargePilot, will optimize charging and discharging using open standards.
“Electric school buses, with their large batteries and predictable schedules, have tremendous potential to support the electric grid with V2G,” said Gregor Hintler, CEO North America of The Mobility House. “We are proud to provide the technology that enables the district to drive clean and support community energy resilience.”
ChargePilot also allows FUSD to participate in PG&E’s Emergency Load Reduction Program by responding to OpenADR signals. This turns school buses into assets that can help maintain grid reliability during periods of high demand. OpenADR provides an open and secure method for exchanging information related to Demand Response (DR) and Distributed Energy Resources (DER).
To facilitate these changes, PG&E upgraded the site’s electrical infrastructure through a streamlined Rule 15/16 service upgrade process. This ensured capacity for all six V2G DC fast chargers. Rules 15 and 16 set requirements for utility service line extensions connecting distribution lines to customer meters in California. The site’s interconnection via Rule 21 allows energy export from the facility as well as additional revenue opportunities for FUSD; Rule 21 governs how generation facilities connect to investor-owned utilities’ distribution systems.
This is the second school district participating in PG&E’s commercial fleet Vehicle-to-Everything pilot program after Oakland Unified School District’s deployment with Zum in 2024.
Since joining PG&E’s EV Fleet program in 2019—which offers incentives for infrastructure—Fremont USD has supported seventeen electric school buses and thirteen medium-duty vehicles.
“We’ve already seen how the electric buses can contribute to cleaner air for our community,” said Ernest Epley, FUSD’s Director of Transportation. “Now, we have the opportunity to use these buses to deliver clean and reliable energy too.”
PG&E serves more than sixteen million people across Northern and Central California as part of its commitment to advancing clean energy solutions. More information about PG&E can be found at https://www.pge.com/, https://www.pge.com/news/, or https://www.pge.com/innovation/.
For further details on this announcement: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pge-and-the-mobility-house-launch-groundbreaking-vehicle-to-grid-electric-school-bus-fleet-with-fremont-unified-school-district-302526669.html
