We all know that Ride and Drive events – experiencing ESBs in person — win hearts and minds, from drivers and mechanics to transportation directors and superintendents. ESBs are so charismatic, you could write a monthly newsletter about them.
Yet ESBs are useless by themselves. They depend completely on charging infrastructure. And getting your charging right is the hardest part of ESBs, not the waiting for the buses to arrive after you order them. (Though the waiting is hard, too; Tom Petty’s song is partly accurate.)
This issue includes:
- The least you need to know about charging
- Pros and cons of Level 2 (AC) charging and DC/FC charging
- How to reduce charging costs
- Where the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program is falling down on equity
- Upcoming WASBE forum January 11, 2023
I’m Alison Wiley here in Oregon, on a mission of electric school buses, equity and inclusion. I’ve worked in low-carbon transportation since 2006, focusing on electric buses since 2016. My newsletters (housed in my updated website) is to make the complex, fast-growing field of ESBs more accessible and understandable to its advocates, practitioners and would-be practitioners. This newsletter is a proud member of the nationwide, equity-focused Alliance For Electric School Buses.
The least you need to know about ESB charging:
- The utility serving your bus yard/charging location is, or will become, your ESB fuel supplier
- You don’t have a choice on what utility that is
- Meet with your utility early and often on your anticipated ESB charging needs
- You will choose who to buy your chargers from
- You will choose who installs your chargers (the utility has no obligation to install chargers)
- Installation may cost 2x the chargers, themselves
- You choose between Level 2 chargers (slower), DC/FC chargers (faster) or both
- You charge (fuel) ESBs daily, unlike every two or three days for diesel buses
- How far your charger is from the power source – the electric panel or the transformer – makes a difference (closer is better)
- Figure 1-2 years to plan and install your chargers. You want them in well before your ESBs arrive (the buses are useless without them)
Level 2 (AC) Charging pros
- Cheaper to purchase (about $6,000)
- Cheaper to install (about $12,000)
- Option of wall mount
- Less likely to incur demand charges (think: speeding tickets from your utility)
- Only pulls/needs 9.6 to 19.6 kilowatts (kW)
- For that reason, less likely to require a power upgrade
- Can get two fueling ports per charger
Level 2 (AC) Charging cons
- Less range (miles you can drive) per hour spent charging
- No future vehicle to grid (V2G) capability or revenue
- Cannot contribute to community resiliency in power outage
- Cannot charge (future) visiting ESBs in timely manner
DC/FC pros
- Fast charging (3-4 hours, less for top-off)
- Less range anxiety
- Direct/fast-charged ESBs may cover more of your routes
- Future vehicle to grid (V2G) revenue is an option
- Can charge (future) visiting ESBs in timely manner
- The fleets that have fast chargers tend to like them a lot
- Potential to provide community resiliency in power outages (by discharging power)
DC/FC cons
- Costly to buy (about $55,000 to $60,000)
- Costly to install
- Take up more space in bus yard than Level 2 chargers
- More likely to incur demand charges from your utility
- Fast charging may shorten battery life
- Just one port per charger, unlike Level 2
Which to choose? Level 2 (slower, lower cost) charging will work fine for the majority of a school bus fleet’s routes (CTE). That said, it’s a best practice to get at least one DC/FC (faster, more costly) charger if at all possible, so you can fuel quickly when you need to.
How to afford a fast charger, especially when EPA rebate winners get just $20,000 for charging per ESB? Sourcewell membership can cut costs. Tim Farquer, Superintendent of Williamsfield Schools in Illinois [I mistakenly said Indiana in a prior issue] reports on his charger purchases through Sourcewell: $4500 per NUVVE Level 2 charger; $46,030 per NUVVE 60kW V2G (vehicle to grid enabled) DCFC. Separately, Tim has ordered a repowered school bus (diesel to electric), and is a driving force behind the Bus To Grid Initiative. Tim rocks, to state the obvious.
Finally, if you’re a rural district in the Pacific Northwest needing help buying chargers, drop me an email. You may be in Bonneville Environmental Foundation territory, which is offering charging grants.
Where the EPA is falling down on equity
Air quality should become a key prioritization criteria of EPA funding. It’s currently nowhere in the Clean School Bus Program (CSBP) criteria. Going into the second year of its five year program, EPA is administering CSBP funds as if districts/kids breathing the cleanest air in the nation need zero emissions school buses just as badly as districts/kids breathing the dirtiest air. In what universe is that assumption true, or just? Another study came out last week showing that air toxins cause children to fall behind in school (Washington Post). It’s essential that air quality become a factor in distributing ESB funds. And I think it’s reasonable to hold the federal government accountable for good datasets on air quality, i.e. not expect nonprofit groups to provide them.
Women Accelerating School Bus Electrification (WASBE)
If you’re a woman in the electric school bus field, please join us at our eighth WASBE online forum Wednesday January 11th, 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern. I’ll send the invitation out soon.
Big thanks to colleagues who contributed to the insights on charging: Amy Hillman, Eve DeCesaro, Zoheb Davar, Tim Farquer and Luke Whittemore. Any errors are mine; please tell me if you notice any.
Financial support for this newsletter is provided in part by the World Resources Institute. While the World Resources Institute may engage as a partner on content, it does not control, nor does it necessarily endorse, the contents of this newsletter.
Thanks!
Alison Wiley (she/her/hers)
Electric School Bus Newsletter
(541) 295-0255 | alison@electricschoolbus.org
“To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together.”
– African proverb