Thomas Built Buses (TBB) was recently selected as the provider of electric school buses by Dominion Energy.

Under the first phase of the electric school bus replacement program in Virginia, Dominion Energy has ordered 50 Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley, which is the largest single deployment in the country.

The TBB school buses are produced in partnership with Proterra, which supplies the EV tech. When equipped with a 220 kWh battery, Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley can go up to 134 miles (216 km) on a single charge.

"TBB’s all-electric Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley is equipped with the same vehicle quality, durability, performance, safety and comfort as the popular Saf-T-Liner C2. Jouley is powered by Proterra electric vehicle technology and configured with 220 kWh of total energy capacity, a two-speed transmission and a TBB-estimated operating range of up to 134 miles. TBB is the only school bus manufacturer to offer DC fast charging architecture as standard equipment. Jouley can charge in about three hours with the Proterra 60kW DC fast charging system and can supply power back to the power grid using vehicle to grid (V2G) technology."

Dominion Energy is expected to make use of the DC fast charging option (60 kW), combined with the bi-directional V2G technology, that would allow reducing peak electricity demand. The second phase of bus electrification in Virginia will be an additional 1,005 buses between 2021 and 2025, which once again would be one of the biggest projects in the U.S.

Caley Edgerly, president and CEO of Thomas Built Buses said:

