My ongoing mantra is that buses in general are great (they make public education possible!). I also love the people who drive them, ride them and work on them. Electric school buses (ESB’s) are especially great, because they support the health of all those people and their communities, plus the climate we all share.
But, like most change, switching to electric buses can be really hard. Support is needed to succeed, especially given how harshly stressed most fleets are with driver shortages. This newsletter gathers, curates and condenses information on ESB’s to save people’s time, and to make ESB’s more accessible and understandable (the communities with the oldest buses and worst air quality are often the most strapped for time). See Glossary below for a quick-start overview of ESB information..
The EPA’s 5 billion dollar Clean School Bus Program (CSBP) plans to launch in April, starting with a rebate program to replace old buses with new, by way of a direct nationwide solicitation to school districts, Tribal schools, etc. (they are not going through state agencies). Guidance to appear in mid March. To receive the CSBP newsletter sign up here. EPA is asking everyone’s help in spreading the word on the funding opportunity, especially to underserved school districts (feel free to forward this newsletter).
Technical assistance to school bus fleets interested in starting to electrify is available here from WRI’s Electric School Bus Initiative. Oregon school districts (I’m in Oregon) can also get assistance in applying for funds from me and Neil Baunsgard (we run the Electric Bus Learning Project, just reply to this newsletter).
1,738 electric school buses (ESB’s) are currently funded, ordered, delivered or operating in the U.S. (CALSTART). But 95% of the nation’s nearly half million school buses are diesel. Lots of tension when new technology meets incumbent technology. Just for fun, let’s imagine how these buses might talk to each other in the bus yard.
Ellie Electric: Hi there, my name is Ellie! Looks like we’ll be living in the same bus yard.
Dusty Diesel: I’ve heard about your kind. Cost four times what I do, with your fussy charging in-fra-struc-ture, la-dee-dah. Think you’re better than me and my buddies?
Ellie Electric: Um, well, I do run clean —
Dusty Diesel: We bleed yellow around here, baby. 25 million kids in 13,500 school districts in the U.S. depending on us. We’re the safest transportation in the nation by passenger mile, by far. You’re an upstart. Don’t come crying to me if your batteries run down and you need to get towed.
Ellie Electric: Debbie Diesel told me you had to get towed last week. Something about an oil leak and your check engine light wouldn’t clear? I don’t even have any oil that could leak. Look, see, I’ve got no tailpipe and no emissions.
Dusty Diesel: I didn’t ask to see your hind end! And lemme tell you about clean: I’ve got a Diesel Particulate Filter – DPF – that cleans up my emissions. No particulate matter or nitrous oxide for my kiddos.
Ellie Electric: Dusty, be real, DPF’s cost from $5,500 up to $11,000. And, they have to get removed and cleaned a lot, also replaced. Air standards keep getting stricter.
Dusty Diesel: Well! Let’s note that your underbelly is full of batteries, so you can’t be an activity bus like me. You’ve got no storage compartments, so our sports teams and marching band have got no use for you.
Ellie Electric: That’s true. I’m just a humble route bus, like most school buses. But I don’t contribute to climate change, and you fossil-fueled buses do. You guys are, like, really old.
Dusty Diesel: Don’t be ageist! What’s the plan for your batteries at YOUR end of life? Huh?
Ellie Electric: At my end of life, may I rest in peace, my batteries can get used as backup power for buildings. How cool is that?! But you, Dusty Diesel, can extend your life by getting . . . repowered! Your drivetrain can get changed out with electric.
Dusty Diesel: But would I still be me?
Ellie ESB: Lots of you would stay: your body, your seats, but you’d become an electric school bus, like me.
Dusty Diesel: No, the horror! I’d rather die.
Ellie ESB: But repowers only cost half what I cost, or way less if you’re doing 10,000 of them over five years like Midwest Transit Equipment is paying SEA Electric to do. UES has already got repowers running in New York, and EV Bison is moving into the space, too. Dusty, look at being repowered as being reborn, a new life, a phoenix rising, a resurre –
Dusty Diesel: That’s enough! If we’re gonna be bus yard buddies (and I guess I’ve got no choice here) you could at least respect your elders. Uppity new buses crowding my precious yard space with chargers? You are so disruptive.
Ellie ESB: Chargers! They fuel me! They’re known as EVSE. They come in L2 which uses AC and is inexpensive but slow (overnight to charge me). Or, a fleet could get DCFC, which is fast but pricey, and can serve V2G, which can eventually create revenue that helps to pay for me.
Dusty Diesel: Are you rapping now? Stop with the acronyms!
Ellie ESB: I know, too many letters flying around in clouds. Maybe a glossary can help.
Glossary of Acronyms
ARPA: American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Federal stimulus package that has included funding for ESB and charging infrastructure in districts hit hard by Covid.
AESB: Alliance for Electric School Buses. Nationwide coalition of 20+ not for profit organizations (including this newsletter) that advocate for ESB’s, with emphasis on equity. Convened by Chispa, below, governed by a steering committee.
CSBP: Clean School Bus Program administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2.5 billion for ESB’s over five years; additional 2.5 billion for alternative fuels including electric. Priority to rural, low income, Tribal schools, etc. Nationwide solicitations they state will start in April 2022 (not going through state agencies).
Chispa: Arm of the League of Conservation Voters. Long time leader of ESB advocacy; convenes the Alliance for Electric School Buses, above. Not an acronym, means “spark” in Spanish.
ESB: electric school bus. A more specific term than EV bus, which could also refer to electric public transit buses. ESB’s have vehicle to grid (V2G) potential since most operate just 180 days/year, 5.5 hours average/day, unlike public transit buses, which run much longer hours and are not generally seen as V2G resources.
ESBI: Electric School Bus Initiative housed at World Resources Institute. Leads and funds key ESB advocacy and market acceleration work. Does not fund the purchase of ESB’s (for aid in ESB purchases, see Clean School Bus Program above).
EVSE: electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The hardest part of electrifying a fleet, by far.
IIJA: Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed November 2021, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Package. Includes 5 billion for the Clean School Bus Program, at least 2.5 billion specifically for ESB’s.
IOU: investor owned utility. Examples: XCEL and Florida Power and Light. IOU’s have been second only to Volkswagen Mitigation as funders of ESB’s so far. Many are interested in ESB’s for their vehicle to grid potential (see V2G below).
J40: Justice 40 Initiative. Nationwide effort to direct minimum 40% of federal climate investments to benefit frontline/environmental justice (EJ) communities. The CSBP’s priorities reflect this initiative.
kWh: kilowatt hour, unit of fuel, analogous to a gallon of diesel fuel. If a bus driver uses 1.3 kWh’s per mile (a light foot helps) they should achieve the ESB’s advertised range. If they use less than kWh’s/mile they may get better range, depending on terrain and any heating or cooling of the bus.
L2: Level 2 chargingAC charging from 3kw-19kw charging speeds. Can provide power to fully recharge a school bus overnight, or top it off during midday.
STN: School Transportation News, covers all things school bus, including electric. Does industry conferences as well as news and podcasts. Don’t call it Student Transportation News, like I did one time. My face was so red when Ryan nicely called this error to my attention.
WASBE: Women Accelerating School Bus Electrification. I’m a cofounder of WASBE, which holds quarterly education/networking forums, with Malinda Sandhu of Lion Electric and Susan Mudd of the Environmental Law and Policy Center. We encourage conference and webinar panels to include both women and people of color (an all-male panel is a manel, and an all white panel is a whanel). WASBE’s next forum is May 19th.
WRI: World Resources Institute. Global foundation/research center with much reach and influence. See their Electric School Bus Initiative above.
TCO: total cost of ownership of an electric bus. TCO analysis balances high purchase cost against the fuel and maintenance savings that accrue over the lifetime of the bus. Several organizations have TCO tools that fleets can use to consider their decisions. Note that electricity prices vary by region, yet are less volatile overall than diesel prices.
TOU: time of use electricity rates. Utilities use rate schedules to balance their loads. Note: utility demand charges, comparable to speeding tickets, tend to be more costly than TOU charges.
V2G: vehicle to grid, an emerging technology that would have ESB’s (preferably fleets of them) discharge energy from their battery packs into the electric grid at certain needed times. V2G can generate revenue to a district; one vendor suggested about $6,000/year. V2B is vehicle to building energy transfer. V2X is a general term for Vehicle to Load (could be a building or the grid).
This newsletter was supported by funding from the Oregon Clean Fuels Program and Pacific Power’s Electric Mobility Program.
Alison Wiley (she/her/hers)
I am on the ancestral lands of the Multnomah, Chinook and Cowlitz peoples.
Whose land are you on?