San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) has purchased 104 electric school buses with bidirectional charging infrastructure from student transportation provider Zum. The new e-buses will be deployed by August 2026. The district plans to add more electric buses to its fleet during the 2027-2028 school year, bringing its total electric fleet to 238 EVs.

The deployment will be powered by Zum’s Connected Mobility Experience (CMX) solution, which combines electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, routing, dispatching, driver workflow, parent communication and energy management.

All the electric buses will be supported by charging infrastructure with built-in bidirectional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities. Zum’s electric fleet will strengthen grid resilience by enabling school bus batteries to return energy to the local grid when not in use. The 104 buses will have the capability to return approximately 3 gigawatt-hours of clean energy to the local grid annually during peak hours.

“This electric fleet, combined with Zum’s CMX technology, will improve the mobility experience for students, families and drivers while strengthening grid reliability and resiliency for the entire community,” said Ritu Narayan, CEO of Zum.

“This investment reflects our commitment to improving the daily experience for students and families by providing safer, quieter, cleaner and more reliable transportation to and from school,” said Superintendent Maria Su.

Source: Zum