Electric School Bus Vehicle-to-Grid Pilot
Testing the scalability of electric school bus (ESB) vehicle-to-grid (V2G) on ComEd’s grid.
Objectives
This pilot builds upon ComEd’s BE Plan 1 V2G pilot (completed November 2025) that tested the basic technical capabilities of electric school bus V2G – for more information on Plan 1 work see that pilot page.
This Plan 2 pilot is designed to field-test a concentrated deployment of ESB V2G chargers interconnected on the same transformer. The pilot will enable:
- Controlled testing of V2G performance (technical, economic, user experience) under different utility dispatch use cases.
- Quantification of battery state-of-health impacts and battery warranty-relevant findings from V2G, as well as any other customer impacts.
- Evaluation of both charging and V2G energy export impacts on transformer and on local feeder conditions.
Vendors and Schedule
| BE Pilot | Lead Vendor | Evaluator | Award Date | Pilot In-Field Start Date | Pilot In-Field End Date |
| Electric School Bus Vehicle-to-Grid | Highland Electric Fleets | DNV Energy Insights | May 2026 | August 2026 | September 2027 |
Participants
A single school district in Palatine, Illinois will participate in this pilot from August 2026 – September 2027. The school district is an existing customer of Highland Electric Fleets, the chosen vendor for the pilot. The district’s existing DC fast chargers will be exchanged for bidirectional DC fast chargers.
Progress
Target completion date: December 2027
Current stage: Implementation planning and approvals
Latest progress: The vendor is moving through the interconnection process and design of potential service upgrades (e.g. transformer). Vehicle charging retrofit is being planned; engineering drawings are in progress.
Outcomes
Project is still in progress; check back for outcomes later in the project!