Respect and congratulations to the Transportation Directors, bus drivers and mechanics who have made it through another very rough school year. You guys rock! I notice that nobody gets paid extra, that I’ve yet heard of, when they take on the extra work of starting to electrify their fleet. Applying for EPA’s electric school bus (ESB) funding by August 19th, as my colleagues and I are helping districts do, is voluntary. So for practical purposes, since electric school buses are still voluntary, I am working with volunteers. In this July issue of the Electric School Bus Newsletter (back issues here) I’m trying to climb into the perspective of the “ESB volunteers” whose work in operating school buses is plenty hard to begin with.
This issue includes:
- Key tip on applying for EPA funding, including screenshot of the EPA application
- Rural challenges (thousands of EPA-prioritized districts are rural)
- Challenges with the Repower Project (diesel to electric) I’m leading at Forth
- The behind the scenes decision makers on ESB’s
- Which Oregon fleet is discussing with Highland how to convert its fleet from propane to electric
- Upcoming conferences and webinars
For those new to this newsletter, I’m Alison Wiley here in Oregon, on a mission of electric buses, equity and inclusion. I’ve worked in low-carbon transportation since 2005, focusing on electric buses since late 2016. Mostly I collaborate, i.e. with Transportation Directors on getting their first ESB’s, and with my smart, spirited colleagues at Forth, also the Alliance For Electric School Buses, World Resources Institute, and the Electric Bus Learning Project.
In helping Transportation Directors apply, I’ve learned that while many districts are registered with sam.gov, only four Points of Contact (email addresses) are allowed per account, and district business office staff may already fill those slots. In that case, key tip: partner with a business office colleague to access sam.gov and apply. The application is as easy as EPA promised, and you can get it started and then finish it later; it will save in the system. See screenshot here, and EPA’s Application User Guide here.
Let’s talk about rural bus fleets, which comprise the bulk of EPA’s 7,000 plus prioritized school districts. The priority makes sense in that most rural areas have economic hardships. Their wages, property tax bases and therefore school district budgets are all smaller. Service, parts, emergency services and health services are all harder to access in rural areas due to longer distances. Rural fleets deserve the fuel and maintenance savings and health benefits that ESB’s bring. The Beneficial Electrification League gives great support to rural fleets, including with their new toolkit.
The irony is that, as a rural Transportation Director told me last year as he struggled with his first deployment, his ESB project takes time beyond his existing job description, time his district can’t pay him for. (Back to the volunteer dynamic mentioned earlier. The EPA has said that upcoming funding rounds may involve grants that fill this gap.) The ESB panelists at the Oregon Pupil Transportation Association (OPTA) conference I attended last month said, “You need a Project Manager to succeed at this.” One added that his good-sized staff and fleet of 300 can absorb the extra work, and the downtime in the shop his first-generation ESB’s have required, in a way a small fleet cannot (many rural fleets are small). He feels a duty to lead with new technology. I respect that.
While there are a number of successful deployments already in rural areas, let’s keep our expectations of rural fleets reasonable. I encourage all interested districts to apply for ESB funding, whether they are prioritized or not. It’s a lottery, and everybody has a shot at landing EPA’s Clean School Bus Program funding. Read on for another approach to making ESB’s affordable.
The Repower Project (diesel to electric) I’m leading at Forth (see our Request For Proposals, due today) is proceeding. It took a verbal beating, though, when I informally talked it up at the ESB session of the OPTA conference. OK, the mechanics/technicians in the room killed me, but they made me smarter, which I welcome. Background: I’m pro-repower because they cost about half to one third of a new ESB, and can hasten fleet transition exponentially. I learned that many parts on older bus models are now being discontinued, so they see problems with repowering a 2008 bus as we will do with Beaverton School District. (I’ve observed, though, that many districts manage to keep 2000 buses and older on the road.) I agreed that repowering buses earlier in their lifecycle may be ideal, and noted that Midwest Transit Equipment is under contract to repower 10,000 school buses with electric powertrains over the next five years.
Technicians/mechanics are often the behind the scenes decision makers within bus fleets, I’ve learned from several sources. Some declare a preference for purpose-built ESB’s (Lion and Green Power are purpose-built), but others, and some drivers, are partial to the brands they’re familiar with, i.e. Blue Bird, Thomas Built and IC. Many want ESB technology to become more proven before they move forward with it. Many want training to work on ESB’s, which training is hard to find. Concerning workers, fair wages and much more, Ian Elder at Jobs To Move America has published an excellent report that I recommend: “Driving The Future: How To Electrify Our School Buses and Center Kids, Communities and Workers in the Transition“.
Which Oregon district is in discussions with Highland about scaling its fleet to electric? They won’t be changing from diesel to electric, but from an all propane fleet to electric. Teri Brady, the Transportation Director at Portland Public Schools, says, “We have been talking to Highland, but will still need to go through a public procurement process. We are interested in the subscription method that spreads costs over the 10 or 10+ time period. It will be the best way for us to meet our [district’s climate] goals and not break our budget with the capital costs.” I tabled next to a friendly Highland rep during OPTA, and learned that their financing model generally works best with fleets of 50 buses or more, though they do outreach/education on ESB’s with fleets of all sizes.
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Conferences and Webinars (only a partial list; tell me of more!)
Weekly EPA Webinars on applying for Clean School Bus Program funding.
Green Bus Summit and Expo, July 15-20, Reno, NV, by School Transportation News. I’ll be there!
ESB Webinar, July 28, 1000 a.m. Pacific: “In the market for an electric school bus? Ask us anything” presented by Alliance For Electric School Buses and World Resources Institute
Green Transportation Summit and Expo, August 16-18, Tacoma, WA. I’m moderating the ESB session the morning of the 18th.
If you’re an advocate as I am, rather than a hands-on practitioner, let’s keep the volunteer dynamic in mind (extra work without extra pay, as of yet). Special thanks to Tim Farquer for sharing with me the screenshot of the EPA funding application and to Susan Mudd and other WASBE’s for their ongoing wise counsel.
Financial support for this newsletter is provided in part by the Clean School Bus Initiative of the World Resources Institute (WRI). While the WRI may engage as a partner on content, it does not control, nor does it necessarily endorse, the contents of this newsletter.