​​Electric Vehicle Blueprint for Berkeley Unified School District​

This project developed an electric vehicle blueprint for transitioning the entire Berkeley Unified School District school bus fleet to zero-emission vehicles and progressing toward its sustainability goals. The blueprint documents impact assessments, charging infrastructure and site analyses, environmental and economic analyses, and innovative technology evaluations to support the district’s commitment to full fleet electrification. 

The blueprint includes a workforce development plan that identifies key players in the Alameda/Berkeley community to help the district provide employees with the critical skills, tools, and functional experience needed to service and maintain battery electric buses, recruit new talent, and develop training programs for a future workforce. As an early adopter, the district faces obstacles, including challenging supply chain and technology issues, constraints on expanding the charging capacity of the existing site, limited human resources, and financial capacity constraints. These challenges led the district to halt fleet electrification for the foreseeable future. 

Nonetheless, the blueprint recommended several steps for the district to ease its future decision-making. These steps included managing and harnessing the data from the telematics software and addressing several technical issues. Further, if Berkeley Unified School District is to grow its electric fleet, it must have the infrastructure to support it. The team recommends that the district reengage in discussions with key partners, including the City of Berkeley and Pacific Gas and Electric Company, to gain the necessary support for its fleet electrification plans. It will also be essential for the state, local governments, and relevant funding agencies to recognize that these staff issues will make it challenging for school districts to take advantage of all the new electric vehicles and charging infrastructure funding opportunities and meet fleet electrification goals.