"San Francisco-based startup Zum wants to turn electric school-bus fleets into grid batteries. This 74-bus depot in Oakland is testing the idea at large scale."
"When Ritu Narayan, CEO and co-founder of Zum, looks at the 74 electric school buses and chargers her startup has deployed at a former industrial site in East Oakland, California, she sees a future where clean transportation and a clean and reliable grid come together.
“Today marks the next phase in our evolution,” Narayan said at an event last week marking the official launch of the country’s first all-electric school-bus fleet. By financing and installing thousands of electric school buses for the Oakland Unified School District, and tapping their spare battery capacity to support the power grid, the San Francisco–based, transportation-as-a-service startup plans to “become a fully fledged energy company,” she said.
Zum already provides transportation services and technology for school districts across the country, including some of California’s largest districts, such as those serving San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino. It hopes to electrify 10,000 school buses over the coming years, a move that will cut carbon emissions and reduce air pollution from diesel engines that harm students, drivers, and communities."
Advertisement 
