Zonar’s Smart Fleet Solutions Provide Support for Electric School Buses

Smart fleet technology supplier Zonar has announced that its pupil transportation product solutions are supported on electric school buses.

The suite of solutions includes Zonar’s V4 telematics system, the Zonar Access electronic verified inspection reporting (EVIR) system, Zonar Coach, Zonar mobile ecosystem, Zonar tablets, Z Pass, and Zonar Verify, according to a news release from the company.

Zonar announced that Virginia-based Chesapeake Public Schools is currently running the suite of solutions on its Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley electric school buses, while Michigan-based Zeeland Public Schools is operating the solutions on its electric buses from The Lion Electric Co.

“We’re excited to put our Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley buses to use with onboard technology powered to drive insights into how our district can best utilize electric buses going forward,” said Dr. David Benson, the director of transportation at Chesapeake Public Schools. “By partnering with Thomas Built Buses and Zonar we aim to be at the forefront of understanding how to best utilize these vehicles to provide the Chesapeake community a cleaner and greener future.”

With Zonar’s solutions, data from electric buses can be captured in many different ways, according to the company. For example, the fleet technology supplier’s V4 telematics system captures the EV CAN bus signal data, which is then pushed to Ground Traffic Control, where fleet managers and dispatchers can review data.

Additionally, Zonar’s electric bus solutions can acquire data input from drivers through its tablets, allowing them to inspect vehicles and communicate with an operation's back office regardless of vehicle type, according to the company. Zonar’s partner ecosystem and existing API integrations reportedly enable customers to connect the fleet technology supplier's data with their operations other critical business systems.

“With grants available, federal infrastructure initiatives on the horizon, and the ongoing push towards greener transportation, we are excited to work with our forward thinking partners and schools on their electric school bus initiatives,” said H. Kevin Mest, senior vice president of passenger services at Zonar. “By getting hands-on experience with the pilots of these buses, we can help ensure that the smart fleet management experience our customers have come to expect on their combustion engine vehicles is seamless for their [electric vehicles].”

Zonar is currently working with its customers to add more electric vehicle (EV) information:

• Compliance and inspections for EVs.
• Fleet vehicle location and EV charge status.
• EV power usage.
• EV charge locations.
• EV charge status.
• EV partner portals.
• EV analytics.