Sonoma Valley Unified School District submitted an application to receive grant funding under the California Energy Commission (CEC) Solicitation GFO-17-607 to replace nine old diesel school buses. Sonoma Valley Unified School District was awarded funding for two vehicle-to-grid ready electric school buses and the supporting electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Sonoma Valley Unified School District purchased two electric school buses and installed five chargers through the CEC. The buses were placed into service on November 30, 2020, and districts were offered workforce training to help support the successful deployment of the new electric fleet. The old, diesel-powered buses were also dismantled and removed from service. This project found that the electric school buses had annual emissions reductions of 14.8 short tons of carbon dioxide, 0.034 short tons of carbon monoxide, 0.014 short tons of hydrocarbons, 0.005 short tons of particulate matter 2.5, and 0.137 short tons of oxides of nitrogen, and that the electric school buses had annual cost savings of $9,564.
