Driving America Forward with Pete Tuckerman
“It’s not enough to dust your hands off and say, ‘Well, good job.’ We have to keep pushing–keep innovating, keep identifying trends and stay ahead of them.”
Pete Tuckerman
Director of Business Development
A-Z Bus Sales Inc.
Pete Tuckerman is Director of Business Development at A-Z Bus Sales Inc. An aircraft crew chief in the Air Force, after leaving the military Pete joined A-Z to work in bus maintenance management before launching (and selling) his own clean diesel business. Afterward, he joined the EV start-up Lion Electric before returning to A-Z to help grow the company’s EV fleet sales. Today, at A-Z, Pete is one of the leaders of the largest EV school bus dealers in the United States, and in his free time enjoys international travel,camping, hunting, and spending time with his family.
How is A-Z driving innovation forward?
A-Z innovates by constantly staying ahead of transportation.
For decades, California has been innovating by pushing the boundaries of transportation, particularly with buses. They pushed to have school buses running on cleaner diesel. Then on compressed natural gas and propane—and now, on electricity, with EVs.
Our innovation at A-Z is to always stay ahead of that demand, and adapt the company accordingly. With EVs specifically, that means providing more on-site service to the clients who buy our buses. It means more training on our end—internally and for our customers. It means spinning up new teams—teams to help fleets with grant writing and a team that deploys EV charging infrastructure—all in service of helping our clients as they transition to EV fleets.
In an industry where most players are slow-moving and resist change as much as possible, we’ve positioned AZ to meet the changing demands of American transportation. That’s how we innovate..
From your perspective, how is Zum driving America innovation forward?
The transportation industry, as a whole, can be slow-moving and resistant to change—and that especially goes for student transportation. School bus companies and transportation providers have been behind the curve for years—decades—in the service they provide to our students and families.
Zum stands out because it’s taken a totally different approach to student transit. It’s not just the advanced technology, though that’s part of it. It’s not even transitioning their fleets to EVs—though that’s a big part of it, and they were ahead of the curve there. I remember having conversations with their leadership about electrification years and years ago. No—it’s the combination of all of those parts in service of our children that really makes Zum innovative.
To rely on Zum’s technology to track your kid—to always know they’re safe—and oh, by the way, to have them ride on a clean-powered vehicle? That’s genuine innovation—and knowing Zum, that’s just the beginning.
When you think of the future, what role do children/the next generation play, and how can we set them up for success?
A-Z has constantly updated itself to stay ahead of transportation trends. In its own way, Zum is doing the same thing—by applying the latest technologies and clean-power innovations to the way we move kids to and from school. That’s innovative—but we have to keep doing it.
It’s not enough to dust your hands off and say, “Well, good job.” We have to keep pushing—keep driving, keep innovating, keep identifying trends and staying ahead of them. In short, we have to be relentless about continuing to do what we’re doing, in order to stay ahead of the curve and best serve the true customer—our kids.