Stream Our Electric Bus Press Conference, Thur. July 29, 10am

I'll be speaking briefly at the press conference on electric buses in Eugene/Springfield, Oregon, tomorrow July 29th, 10 a.m. Pacific. Environment Oregon will stream it here.

Buses are great in general, and electric buses are best. And electric buses are hard and costly, but doable, with support.

That’s my mantra, and I’ll repeat it but with a new twist when I speak briefly at the press conference on electric buses in Eugene/Springfield, Oregon, tomorrow July 29th, 10 a.m. Pacific. Environment Oregon will stream it here. Hope you can come! Hope you can share! It’s part of a series occurring across the country as the U.S. Congress and the Biden administration consider proposals for clean transportation infrastructure. I’m honored to be in this group of speakers. Fortunately we just speak for 2-3 minutes apiece (I’m a big fan of conciseness, both mine and others).

Blue Bird electric buses, front-engine Type C on left (fossil-fueled C’s are about 80% of the overall school bus market) and Type D on right, also known as transit style, which has the largest passenger capacity. I’m taking an online class on electric buses offered by Blue Bird; I recommend it to anyone involved in ESB’s. My colleague Neil Baunsgard and I were recently interviewed by the Oregon Department of Energy as they compiled their first Electric School Bus Guidebook. We need lots of robust learning channels like these to demystify electric buses, train up on all levels, and accelerate their adoption.

Speaking of learning opportunities, the Zero Emissions Bus Conference is September 15-17 in Denver, Colorado, presented by Center for Transportation and the Environment. I’m going! Hope I see you there! Here in the Northwest, the Green Transportation Summit and Expo is August 16-18 in Tacoma Washington; I’m also going to that.

Concerning federal funding for electric school buses, at least 127 organizations of all types have signed on to this letter of support for it, including this newsletter and the Electric Bus Learning Project that I co-lead. The letter is organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists; here is the link to sign on if you haven’t already.

Vice President Kamala Harris started championing funding for electric school buses (ESB’s) years ago as a U.S. Senator. She is pictured here with staff looking at Thomas Built electric buses in High Point, NC, where Thomas Built does its manufacturing. A bipartisan group of senators supports ESB funding; ESB pilots and electric transit buses are underway in states all across the political spectrum.

Finally, School Transportation News recently published an article I wrote about an electric bus project I’m working on with Forth. This is the one designed to support a low income community with its own microgrid for resiliency in power outages and extreme weather. Last month’s extreme heat and the heat wave starting here in Oregon tomorrow are keeping me strongly motivated on this project.

Alison Wiley (she/her/hers)

I am on the ancestral lands of the Multnomah, Chinook and Cowlitz peoples.

Whose land are you on?

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