The Humble School Bus Just Got a Side Hustle

Xos launches V2G production on a major US school bus platform in April 2026, letting fleets sell power back to the grid

1 Apr 2026

Xos, the Los Angeles-based commercial electric vehicle manufacturer, will begin production of vehicles with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capability in April 2026, fitted to one of North America's largest electric school bus platforms. The move marks one of the first times bidirectional charging has reached production scale in a US commercial vehicle line.

V2G technology allows electric vehicles to discharge stored battery power back to the electricity grid during periods of peak demand. For school districts and fleet operators, the company says this creates a direct revenue stream without requiring hardware retrofits or new agreements with utilities.

The global V2G market was valued at $4.3 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $15 billion by 2030, with commercial fleets seen as the segment best placed to accelerate that growth. School buses are considered strong candidates: they return to central depots each night, operate on fixed schedules, and sit idle between routes.

Xos has built depot-level software that manages energy scheduling, coordinates discharge across multiple vehicles, and handles utility integration. Saleh Heydari, the company's chief technology officer, said the core engineering challenge at commercial scale was coordinating energy flow across vehicles and sites without disruption, and that the system was designed to generate financial returns from the outset.

The company has outlined plans to extend bidirectional capability to step vans, powertrains, and energy storage products. Xos says the aim is to turn every new depot it powers into a contributor to US grid stability.

The timing reflects broader pressure on electricity infrastructure. Utilities are managing rising demand driven by the electrification of transport and rapid expansion of data centres. Distributed fleet assets, proponents argue, offer a cost-effective tool for grid balancing at scale.

Whether school districts adopt V2G at meaningful volumes will depend in part on how utility demand-response programmes evolve and whether the revenue projections prove reliable in practice.