Charged EVs highlighted MCPS' electric school bus contract with Highland Electric Transportation, quoting AEE’s Nat Kreamer on how the deal can aid in Biden’s EV pledge. Read excerpts below and the full story here.

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland has approved a contract with Highland Electric Transportation, a provider of turnkey electric fleet solutions, to convert its school bus fleet to all-electric, starting with 326 school buses over the next four years. This project is said to be the largest single procurement to date of electric school buses in North America.

Montgomery County Public Schools operates some 200 schools, and operates a fleet of over 1,400 school buses.

Highland and its project partners, including Thomas Built Buses, Proterra, and Annapolis-based American Bus, will electrify all five of MCPS’s bus depots, and will supply the electric school buses along with managed charging services. Highland will purchase buses manufactured in North Carolina by Thomas Built Buses, which will be supplied and serviced by American Bus…

The project was awarded an $817,000 grant from Maryland Energy Association to help offset the purchase cost of the vehicles.

“We believe this project is a great example of the power of public-private partnerships as we seek to electrify school bus fleets across the country,” said Duncan McIntyre, CEO of Highland...

“This is the first step toward meeting President Biden’s pledge to electrify all 500,000 school buses across the nation over the next decade,” said Nat Kreamer, CEO of Advanced Energy Economy. “These school buses do double duty, providing pollution-free transportation for schoolchildren and grid services that benefit all electric customers, while also being available as mobile backup for communities affected by power outages.”

Read the full story here.