ChargePilot® by PowerFlex Quadruples School Bus Charging Capacity at NYCBUS Site

New York City School Bus Umbrella Services (NYCSBUS) is a nonprofit school bus company serving New York City, home to the largest public school district in the United States. Formed in 2021 to stabilize student transportation across the five boroughs, the Brooklyn-based operator runs 880 routes — serving nearly 1,000 schools and transporting more than 11,000 students. Its mission pairs outstanding service to families and schools with continual innovation in student transportation.

The Challenge

Charge a Growing Electric Bus Fleet at a Power-Constrained Site

NYCSBUS set out to electrify its Zerega Avenue depot in the Bronx, backed by funding from NYSERDA's New York Clean Transportation Prizes and the EPA Clean School Bus Program. But the site's existing utility service allowed a maximum EV charging load of just 80 kilowatts (kW), enough to support only 4 buses. Expanding that connection would have meant a costly, slow service upgrade. NYCSBUS also faced shifting bus order and delivery timelines, so any infrastructure plan had to stay flexible as vehicles arrived on an unpredictable schedule.

PowerFlex’s Solution

Manage EV Loads to Boost Capacity by More Than 4x

INSTALLATION TYPE

EV Charging

INSTALLATION SIZE

268 kW Total Charger Capacity

LOCATION

Bronx, NY

INCENTIVES

NYSERDA New York Clean • Transportation PrizesEPA Clean School Bus Program

Acting as technical lead, PowerFlex worked with NYCSBUS and Con Edison to pinpoint the true available capacity at Zerega. Using its charging simulation tool, PowerFlex modeled real bus routes and dwell times and determined the depot could reliably operate 14 electric bus routes within the 80-kW limit if loads were intelligently managed.

PowerFlex then deployed ChargePilot® by PowerFlex, which shares available power dynamically across ports and matches charging speeds to real-time vehicle schedules and local utility rates. The result: 268 kW of nameplate charger capacity serving up to 17 buses on an 80-kW connection — more than four times what the site could otherwise support — with no upgrade required.

PowerFlex’s charging models estimate $70,000 to $160,000 in annual savings from load-managed charging.

In 2024, the project earned the Power Player of the Year award from Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) and was named Most Innovative Interconnection by the Con Edison E-Mobility Awards.

“[PowerFlex] is the most proven charge management provider in this space, and we appreciate their partnership in planning and implementing charging infrastructure to drive towards the electric future.”

Matt Berlin

CEO, NYCSBUS