Zonar Advances Capabilities for Electric School Bus Management
Zonar’s EV telematics platform
SEATTLE, Wash. – July 18, 2023 – Zonar, the leader in smart mobility solutions, today announced advanced capabilities for electric vehicle (EV) management through distinct strategic relationships with ChargePoint, a leading EV charging network, and Highland Electric Fleets, the leading provider of fleet electrification-as-a-service. To better support customers’ e-mobility journey, Zonar will use ChargePoint’s integrated hardware, software, and services. Highland Electric Fleets will provide telematics insights to Zonar’s customers through its Dashboard platform, in partnership with Synop.
With ChargePoint, joint Zonar customers gain expert consultation for charging infrastructure planning and deployment with a dedicated project management team handling every step of the process from design to equipment procurement, contract negotiation, and construction oversight. This approach allows both district-owned and contracted operations the opportunity to obtain significant administrative and operational expertise within a much shorter timeframe, and without permanent investments in staff. Further, charge management software provided by ChargePoint also helps fleet operators meet sustainability goals in a power grid-friendly way. First movers benefit from up to 25% lower total cost of ownership, including a reduction in operating expenses with lower fuel and maintenance costs and improved proactive management of fleet operations.
“Through this agreement, more school bus fleets will have access to ChargePoint’s portfolio of integrated hardware, software, and services that simplify the shift to electrification and deliver lower total cost of ownership for fleet managers,” said Rich Mohr, senior vice president, fleet, at ChargePoint. “With Zonar, we will continue to enable bus fleets to meet their charging needs and maximize their TCO advantage.”
Further enhancing fleets’ EV journey, Highland Electric Fleets has selected Zonar’s V4™ telematics control unit to provide real-time data on bus location and each bus battery’s state-of-charge. This offers insight into range awareness to properly manage bus charge scheduling, routing, and locations for any given fleet. By optimizing route readiness and costs, Highland Electric Fleets is simplifying school bus electrification and making it more accessible for its customers across the U.S. and Canada.
“Our goal is to maximize the efficiency of EV bus fleets, using them for as many hours of the day as possible, and most importantly, in the safest way,” said Sean Leach, director of technology and platform management at Highland Electric Fleets. “Zonar offers us effortless access to knowing what each bus is doing minute by minute.”
Maintaining sufficient charge for all EV fleet batteries is a complex but necessary process to ensure buses complete their routes and get students safely to and from school. Electric school bus batteries have sufficient range to complete more than 90% of existing school bus routes, and through the combination of ChargePoint’s integrated hardware and software and Highland Electric’s telematics, Zonar is ensuring that customers’ charging is planned and coordinated strategically to be certain all routes are met, and electricity costs are managed.
“Transitioning to electric without disrupting existing fleet operations and infrastructure is possible,” said Tim Ammon, vice president and general manager of passenger services at Zonar. “At Zonar, we are continually working with partners and customers in the EV bus ecosystem to improve our services and support for fleets on their EV adoption journey. We look forward to continuing our relationships with ChargePoint and Highland Electric Fleets to support the EV buses of the future together.”
About Zonar
Founded in 2001, Zonar has pioneered smart mobility solutions throughout vocational, pupil, mass transit and commercial trucking industries. The Zonar mission is to enhance the safety, performance, and success of our customers by transforming the delivery of innovative insights for commercial fleets around the world. Zonar achieves this by helping fleets of all sizes maximize the use of their assets with solutions dedicated to improving compliance, efficiency, maintenance, ridership visibility, safety, and tracking. Cloud-based services with open APIs drive Zonar smart mobility solutions by making it easy for fleet owners and managers to stay connected to their fleets and drivers and operators to dispatch. Headquartered in Seattle and part of the Continental family, Zonar also has a Technology Development Center in downtown Seattle and a distribution center in West Chicago.
About Highland Electric Fleets
Highland Electric Fleets is the leading provider of electrification-as-a-service for school districts, governments, and fleet operators in North America. Founded in 2019, Highland offers a unique suite of products that make it simple and affordable to upgrade to electric fleets today. Active in 30 states and Canada, Highland is responsible for the first use of electric school buses in a commercial vehicle-to-grid (V2G) program and the largest electric school bus project in the United States to date. To learn more, visit https://highlandfleets.com.