November 23, 2022

Where Electric School Bus Culture Is Thriving, And Not, And Why

The first round of the EPA's Clean School Bus Program Funding is complete, and the second round is coming up soon in February/March 2023. This funding can exclude large inner-city schools based on current policy.

There were 391 lottery winners of the EPA’s first round of Clean School Bus Program funding. Part of this is luck, but part of it is not luck at all, because you had to be one of the 2,000 applicants (now wait-listed) to get a shot at it. And there are sharp differences between states, and especially between the ten EPA regions, on the rates of school bus fleets applying in the first place.

I see those differences as driven by what I’m calling Electric School Bus (ESB) Culture. In this issue I’m naming what I think drives ESB Culture, and inviting you to email me (my email is at the end) and share what you think with me.

Join me here in my obsession with why the Pacific Northwest (PNW), this verdant place where I live and work, is being so far outpaced in EPA awards and ESB Culture by the frosty Midwest — just as I foretold in my early August newsletter. The five PNW states combined landed just 13 awards, while Michigan alone landed 24. I don’t feel defensive; I feel intrigued. What can we learn here?

This issue includes:

Info on October 26 EPA awards, equity problems, and next funding opportunity
Links to excellent new ESB resources
Factors that make or break a thriving ESB culture
I’m seeking school district people to interview — let me buy you a drink!

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 goal in my newsletters (back issues here) 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 member of the nationwide Alliance For Electric School Buses (AESB), and is sponsored in part by the Electric School Bus Initiative of the World Resources Institute. (But drinks for colleagues are my personal treat.) I also work as a consultant.

EPA Clean School Bus Awards event at John Lewis Elementary School in Washington, D.C. on October 26th. Photo courtesy of Sarah Silbiger with Moms Clean Air Force, which is one of the advocacy nonprofits driving ESB culture forward, including in the Midwest.

Overview of first-round EPA funding awards: 95% of the nearly one billion dollars in rebate awards are for electric school buses, the rest for propane and compressed natural gas (CNG is much more common in public transit buses than in school buses, the same as electric propulsion). Only EPA-prioritized districts and Tribes were funded — disappointing to many — with three exceptions that made sure every state landed at least one award.

Equity problems with EPA’s priority criteria (and awards to date) include the fact they ignore air quality. That is a huge thing to ignore, given that bad air quality hurts kids’ health and school performance, and ESBs help clean up the air. The current priorities also exclude many large, inner-city schools. That ties in with the lack of evidence that EPA’s Clean School Bus Program (CSBP) yet complies with the Justice 40 requirement, i.e., that 40% of climate investments go directly to frontline communities hit hardest by poverty and pollution. I think the CSBP can do better going forward!

The next EPA funding round will be a grant competition announced in February or March 2023, featuring a longer application and more expectation of fleets’ readiness to electrify. Grant-writing assistance should be available. If you’re one of the dozens of dealers, nonprofits, etc. supporting districts and Tribes in applying for the next round, please do as I just did and take this three minute (I counted them) survey. World Resources Institute (WRI) and AESB are coordinating efforts so we can be effective together — thank you!

Excellent ESB Resources (open to more suggestions)

CALSTART’s regional, peer-based working groups
WRI’s newly released Electric School Bus Buyers Guide and Market Study
Department of Energy’s electric school bus resource page

What Causes ESB Culture To Thrive, Or Not?

Has the state/region been devoting Volkwagen or other funds to ESBs? About 25 states have, to one degree or another, including sub-freezing Midwestern states. Being a red or blue state seems to make little difference here, though I’ve seen elected officials make a big difference. The districts in VW funded states have often been running ESBs successfully for two years or more, which leads to them being confident and well prepared to apply for federal EPA funding.

Are utilities supporting ESBs and/or their charging infrastructure? This helps — Oregon’s only ESBs on the road are funded by Portland General Electric, for example — but isn’t sufficient by itself in forming an ESB culture. Both utilities and the school bus industry are conservative by nature. ESB adoption is forcing both industries to change, rapidly, yet they’re still expected to maintain their deep stability, their reliability in serving the public. It’s a lot to ask, I admit.

Are advocacy groups pushing for ESBs in the state/region? Mothers Out Front, Chispa, Clean Cities Coalitions in many regions, Sierra Club chapters, and Moms Clean Air Force all come to mind here. Muscular advocacy is new to the school bus world, and is often mother-led and/or women-led; see WASBE photo below. The Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC), headquartered in Chicago, organized the Midwest’s first Electric School Bus Tour in 2017. ELPC’s environmental attorney Susan Mudd was instrumental in the formation of Region 5’s Clean School Bus Program Work Group (see the next factor).

Screenshot of the seventh forum of Women Electrifying School Bus Electrification (WASBE) on October Attendees come from school districts, for-profit companies and nonprofits. WASBE cofounders are Susan Mudd of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, Malinda Sandhu of Lion Electric, and myself.

Is the EPA Region leading an ESB-oriented work-group? I’ve got to shout out Frank and Tony, who work for EPA Region 5 (Midwest), for leading a dynamic work-group that keeps its members abreast of funding news, how to apply, and more. It includes school districts, nonprofit advocates, manufacturers . . . they’re very inclusive. And effective.

Any ESB champions within the school district? While the transportation director often leads the charge, the champion may be a Superintendent, such as Tim Farquer in Indiana, who submitted his order for six Lion ESBs on October 27th, the day after he learned his district won an EPA award. Champions may even be students, as happened in Miami, Florida.

Are contractors in the state/region preparing and pushing for ESB adoption? About 40% of districts contract out for service; First Student is the leading U.S. contractor. It reports that it offered all priority districts help in applying, and a number of those First Student districts won awards. Many contractors, though, are passive on ESBs unless a school district holding one of its contracts flat-out insists on taking steps toward electrifying.

Are school bus dealers helping Tribes and districts apply for ESB funding? Or are they still emphasizing diesel and propane buses? “Many dealers are a good old boys network. They don’t want any changes,” a veteran of the school bus industry told me. District champions and ESB advocates may help to engage them.

Are the states’ Associations for Pupil Transportation supporting ESB adoption? I suspect this is the biggest single factor in forming an ESB culture. But it’s driven by all of the above. The Michigan Association for Pupil Transportation, led by Katrina Morris, is deeply engaged in helping Michigan school districts electrify.

Any state’s school bus culture can be highly competent in general, while making little progress on ESB adoption. I might describe Oregon school bus culture that way, having attended (and thoroughly enjoying) its last three Oregon Pupil Transportation Association (OPTA) conferences. OPTA culture is passionate, committed and competent concerning the general school bus mission. Yet with no state-funded ESB purchases to date, two of its ESB deployments going poorly, two other deliveries of ESBs very long overdue, and no fired-up moms waving the ESB flag, an ESB culture is yet to be formed.

The Midwest has a thriving ESB culture. We don’t have that in the Pacific Northwest – yet. I think that can and will change. I want to be part of that change, in collaboration with many great colleagues from many organizations.

Lastly, I am seeking ESB-involved school district people for half-hour interviews. I’m a subcontractor to a Voice of the Customer project funded by the California Energy Commission. This week we’re interviewing Tysen Brodwolf of Cajon Valley School District near San Diego and Nancy Jensen, formerly of Twin Rivers School District in Sacramento. Last week we had the pleasure of hearing from Joni Policy of Franklin-McKinley School District in San Jose CA and Gil Blue Feather Rosas Of Modesto City Schools, CA. I’m buying these great colleagues a drink when I next see them, probably at STN’s Green Bus Summit in July 2023. If you’re interested (in being interviewed, not just a drink) please email me; you do not need to be in California.

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.

While I always invite readers to email me (alison@electricschoolbus.org) and tell me your thoughts and comments, I’m more interested than usual this time in feedback. What are you seeing about ESB culture that I’m not seeing? I’ll summarize responses in the next months newsletter (December); you can stay anonymous if you like, as always.

Thanks!

Alison Wiley (she/her/hers)