Electric school buses on their way to rural America

I've been contemplating this post for several months and was finally prompted to start writing it when I saw a tweet linking to this press release today from Senator Jon Tester's office.   The headline is "Tester Secures Nearly $4 million for New School Buses for Montana School Districts."  The subhead is "Funding will come from Senator's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act."  The text--though not the headlines--make clear that these are zero-emission, electric busses: 

Tester today announced that he secured $3,950,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean School Bus Program for Montana School Districts. This funding, which came from Tester’s bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), will go toward supplying brand new zero-emissions electric school buses for the Bigfork, Clinton, and Fairfield County School Districts.

Tester worked across the aisle for months to negotiate his bipartisan package with a group of five Republicans, four Democrats, and the White House, and he was the only member of Montana’s congressional delegation to vote for it.

“Students and families in smaller communities like the one I call home need access to reliable transportation options,” Tester said. “I am proud to have worked with Republicans and Democrats to invest in Montana’s public education infrastructure. This will benefit working Montana families while also strengthening our American manufacturing sector.”

A breakdown of the funding can be found below:

Bigfork: Bigfork Elementary School – $2,765,000 (7 buses) 

Clinton: Clinton Elementary School – $790,000 (2 buses)

Fairfield: Fairfield Elementary School – $395,000 (1 bus)

After that, the press release includes characteristic boilerplate about what Tester is doing for Montana--especially its schools, and especially the rural ones. All three of these schools are in rural areas, two in quite small towns and the third, Big Fork, a town of about 4000 in Flathead County.  

That Tester tweet reminded me of a headline I saw a few months ago in my hometown newspaper, the Newton County Times, about federal funding flowing in to help a small school district purchase an electric school bus.  That headline, from August of this year, was "Japer applies for electric school bus grant," with Jeff Dezort reporting.  Below is an excerpt with a surprising amount of detail, including a long quote from the transportation manager for the Jasper School district, Brent Edgmon.  Edgmon happens to be the younger brother of one of my good friends from my twelve years at Jasper School in the 1970s and into the 1980s.  Their mom, Dorothy Joe Edgmon, was paid by the school to drive kids (including her own) in her station wagon up and down Cave Mountain Road, where the school bus did not go.  In other words, she was part of the school's transportation infrastructure decades ago.  

Here's part of the Newton County Times story:

Don't be shocked if you see electric school buses in the Jasper School District in the not too distant future.

The school district has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency for a $1.5 million grant to purchase four electric school buses costing up to $375,000 each.

Transportation manager Brent Edgmon told the board of eduction at its regular meeting Monday night, Aug. 15, that he submitted the application on behalf of the school district at the deadline that fell prior to the meeting. He said if the grant is awarded the district can refuse to accept it. But he encouraged the board to consider the idea of acquiring electric buses sooner rather than later and doing so with little cost to the district. He pointed out that other school districts will probably go to electric buses and when they arrive at Jasper's campuses for sporting events or other academic activities, they will need to connect to a charging station.

Edgmon told the board EPA is giving out $500 million for electric school buses nationally.

There aren't many options. They come in three sizes. Along with a small van, there is the commonly used 54-passenger bus and a 72-passenger bus.

Concerning the mechanics of the vehicles Edgmon said they don't have a diesel engine nor a transmission. They have an electric motor under the hood and a driveshaft to the rear end. It will have air brakes and a liquid used to cool and heat the battery. There aren't any other fluids, like oil or fuel, no air cleaner ... which is a big savings. You will still have to replace tires and grease them. They weigh 3,000 pounds more than the weight of a diesel engine.

Edgmon said his main concern was that across the whole district every bus, including spares, are equipped with exhaust breaks (Jake brake) to assist braking down steep hills. He didn't want to give up the exhaust breaks. He said he since learned that the electric buses have a three stage motor. When you come over the mountain you turn on the charge mode one, two, or three, and it acts like an exhaust brake. It holds the vehicle back.

It's supposed to run 300 miles on a charge. Edgmon doubted that, but he was told the vehicle is charging as much as it is being driven. It's the perfect situation for an electric vehicle. Starting and stopping and going over hills is what keeps the battery charged.

These motors put out 342 horse power. Diesel engines now put out 250 horse power and they perform very well. Edgmon said he has been told electricity compared to fuel would cost less than $1 a gallon.

Charging stations are another thing, he said. They cost between $30,000 and $40,000 for a quick charger.

Here are more quotes from Edgmon: 

We would be ahead of the game if we could get this money. We're going to see schools coming here and needing to charge their bus. It wouldn't hurt to have a charging station just outside the gym or other convenient place

If we don't get selected in the first round the application stays in the hat or if another school declines Jasper advances on the list.

This is by far the most positive thing I've read about electric vehicles in rural places.  I suppose it helps that they're coming free of charge--even from the big, bad federal government.  It'll be interesting to see how many rural school districts like Jasper--and the Montana schools--seek these grants and how many receive them.  

Meanwhile, I'm guessing that Jasper School District did not get one of the buses because this Oct. 29 story in the Newton County Times lists other schools in Arkansas that did get them, at least in the first round.  The headline is "EPA announces $4,000,000 in Clean School Bus funding for school districts in Arkansas," and it appears to merely quote a government press release.  Here's the lede: 

The Biden-Harris Administration announced the Fiscal Year 2022 recipients of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program rebate competition, awarding $4,255,000 from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to Arkansas school districts. The grants will help the school districts of Wonderview, Blytheville, The Alpena and Danville purchase 11 clean school buses that will accelerate the transition to zero emissions vehicles and produce cleaner air in and around schools and communities.