UPDATE
selected us to be their EV technology partner . There are nearly half a million school buses in the U . S ., that are sitting at peak electric times available to put energy back on the grid , making student transportation a key part in reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions ( GHG ). Collins ’ leadership will be a strong catalyst for the market to move to all electric . Together , we are ready to bring zero-emission school buses to a neighborhood near you .” The U . S . Senate recently voted for a $ 1 trillion infrastructure bi-partisan bill . The bill includes $ 7.5 billion dedicated to building additional charging stations for electric vehicles , while another $ 7.5 billion would help fund swapping out current school buses . The bill is now in the house , pending major negotiations , with an expected vote date before Sept . 27 . According to the Clean Energy Leadership Institute , there are roughly 480,000 school buses being used for school transportation in the U . S . These buses travel a total of nearly 3.5 billion miles each year , and nearly 95 percent of them run on diesel or gasoline fuel . These buses are parked during peak electric grid hours in the afternoon and all summer , with available energy to put back on the grid through Lightning ’ s V2G solution . “ We are excited about matching our bus manufacturing experience with Lightning ’ s proven EV technology ,” said Chris Hiebert , VP and general manager of Collins Bus . “ Our customers and dealers have been asking for a high-performance , cost-effective zero-emission school bus , with demand increasing significantly in recent months . After visiting Lightning ’ s facility in Colorado , we were convinced they are the right partner for us .” “ Electrifying school buses just makes sense ,” said Kash Sethi , chief revenue officer , Lightning eMotors . “ The environmental and health benefits were always a no brainer . With predicable routes , dedicated overnight parking at school bus depots , fuel and maintenance savings , all-electric school buses now make a lot of operational and financial sense as well . We are excited to partner with Collins and look forward to working with their nationwide dealer network to lead the school bus industry towards a zero-emission future .” The first batch of all-electric Collins school buses leveraging Lightning ’ s EV technology is already in production , with buses expected to be delivered to dealerships and school districts this fall . featuring Seon-branded cameras and DVRs , with integrated live video streaming and GPS . “ We already have the ability to download video wirelessly and planned to implement live streaming ,” says Wayne Norton , transportation director for Richland 2 School District . “ Live video streaming and GPS will help us quickly assess and proactively respond to any emergency situation in the future .” The upgraded technology will enable the school district to :
• Give district administration and emergency responders realtime access to live video inside the bus and pinpoint the bus ’ s location for rapid response
• Monitor and make better decisions in response to an emergency situation as it unfolds
• Provide students on the bus with Internet connectivity via a Wi-Fi Hotspot Sheriff Leon Lott of the Richland County Sheriff ’ s Department is helping to drive this initiative with an expressed interest in seeing live video streaming technology on all the buses in the jurisdiction . He says the hijacking of a school bus by a Fort Jackson trainee was a lesson learned about how valuable this technology can be in critical situations . “ Richland ’ s neighboring school district , Lexington 5 , also within Sheriff Lott ’ s jurisdiction , is already benefiting from the increased safety and productivity of the Safe Fleet ‘ Super Bus ,’” said Chris Akiyama , vice president school bus , Safe Fleet . “ This bus is equipped with live video streaming , GPS location-based services , 360 ° around vehicle monitoring and the Safe Fleet Predictive Stop Arm™ , which uses radar technology to help protect students outside the bus . With the proven , reliable safety and performance from each individual system further enhanced through their integrated strengths , the Super Bus or Connected Bus stands apart from all other market offerings by leveraging technology developed for a wide range of mission-critical industries that Safe Fleet supplies , including transit , law enforcement and waste and recycling .” The Lexington 5 ‘ Super Bus ’ was recently on display at the South Carolina Association for Pupil Transportation ( SCAPT ) conference held in Myrtle Beach in June 2021 .
Zum goes carbon neutral , leads student transportation toward an electric future
Safe Fleet video surveillance captures bus driver protecting students from hijacker
A Safe Fleet school bus camera system captured dramatic footage of a May 6th hijacking , in which a Richland 2 School District bus driver ’ s heroic actions kept the gunman ’ s attention away from students . In response to the incident , the Richland 2 School District will upgrade its 170 existing Safe Fleet surveillance systems ,
Zúm announced it is offsetting 100 percent of the emissions for its entire fleet in 2021 , leading the industry toward an electric future . On the road to transitioning its fleet to electric vehicles ( EV ) by 2025 , Zum is enabling school districts to start meeting their sustainability goals right away . As schools around the country are gearing up for students , faculty , and staff to return to the classroom , Zum ’ s investment takes aim at the 8.4 million metric tons of greenhouse gas ( GHG ) — the equivalent to over 1 million homes ’ annual energy use — that diesel school buses emit annually . This investment is the company ’ s latest step in the Zum Net Zero initiative , a program rooted in creating a safer , healthier , more sustainable planet . Zum also recently announced a partnership with AutoGrid to deploy 10,000 electric school buses to create a gigawatt of flexible capacity for the electric grid . The company ’ s technology and business model also contribute to reducing its carbon footprint by optimizing routes , reducing the total number of assets on the road and overall miles driven , and better utilizing its fleet instead of having assets sit idle . Zum is accelerating its commitment by getting to carbon neutral right away , as part of its movement toward zeroemission student transportation .
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