As support grows for increasing the number of electric vehicles to reduce air pollution, environmentalists and activists are turning their sights on school buses.
Now, the big yellow buses are almost exclusively powered by diesel engines, but that could slowly change.
Gov. Phil Murphy included electric school buses when he announced plans last month for the state to help fund $100 million in grants to help towns buy heavy-duty electric vehicles and build charging infrastructure to meet goals to reduce emissions.
But a major hurdle for cash strapped school districts is the high price of going electric. A full-sized 40-foot electric school bus can cost $230,000 to $400,000 per vehicle, two to almost four times the cost of a $110,000 diesel-powered school bus.
Financing electric buses is one of the topics of a February report by NJ Public Interest group and Environment New Jersey. Proposed legislation in the state Senate and Assembly would have the state Board of Public Utilities set up a three-year electric school pilot program to study this issue.
Environmentalists cite climate change and reducing respiratory health issues caused by bad air as reasons to go electric. Other experts contend that “clean diesel” buses are cheaper to buy and can meet tougher emissions standards.
Two legislative bills in the Assembly and state Senate could help answer those questions by providing grants to three school districts in the southern, central and northern regions of the state to buy electric buses and test them. Both are in committee.
Other issues include how many miles electric buses can travel before needing a recharge. How well batteries perform under extreme cold and heat also can affect battery output and miles traveled between charges.
Now, there are no electric school buses on the road in that state, however, that’s changing. The state Department of Environmental Protection awarded $5.7 million in grants to transportation providers in three districts — Trenton, Elizabeth and Jersey City, said Janet Bamford, a New Jersey School Board Association spokeswoman. Those grants will put 15 electric school buses on the road, five in each district.
They will be funded from a settlement of a federal lawsuit against Volkswagen that it tampered with emissions controls on cars and SUV’s.
Another 27 electric buses in six school districts would be funded with $10 million in the funding Murphy announced last month.
NJSBA supports the bills to study the deployment of electric school buses, and the association testified in support of earlier versions of the legislation, Bamford said.
The majority of school districts in the state have their own bus fleets — 122 all on their own, and another 160 where it’s augmented by contractors. Another 156 rely solely on contractors, Bamford said.
The Environment NJ and PIRG report suggests financing methods that have been used elsewhere in the nation for school districts.
The report, released last month outlines two concepts that count on help from public utilities, vehicle-to-grid technology and Pay-As-You-Save programs. Vehicle-to-grid technology allows buses to store energy and sell electricity back to utilities during high-demand periods.
Pay-As-You-Save is an agreement where the utility company covers the initial extra cost of the new technology and the customer repays that company over the lifespan of the bus.
“We had seen buy-in from utilities in their initial filings to the NJ Board of Public Utilities...to include school bus electrification as part of their EV utility filings, but that was not included in the final settlements,” said Hayley Berliner, Environment New Jersey clean energy associate. “We hope there will be support for utility and ratepayer investment in electric school buses.”
The two environmental groups have been communicating with school districts and public officials about electric school buses, she said.
Electric bus prices also depend on battery range. Bus manufacturers said the higher purchase costs are covered in five to seven years by fuel and maintenance savings.
One debate is whether electric buses are worth the investment and if new diesel engine technology reduces emissions as effectively as an electric.
“Clean air benefits of new diesel school buses are about on par with all electric buses,” said Allen Schaeffer, Diesel Technology Forum Executive Director. “New diesel buses come with particulate matter filters that reduce PM 2.5 emissions very close to zero. These buses have selective catalytic reduction systems that effectively eliminate emissions.”
The federal Environmental Protection Agency is scheduled to propose a new rule this year that is expected to further reduce levels of allowable emissions from diesel buses, starting in 2027, he said.
Federal funding is also available for schools to replace old higher polluting buses. The EPA has a rebate program to retire older buses. School buses can be legally used for 12 to 15 years in New Jersey, depending on the weight of the bus.
Selected applicants that scrap old diesel buses receive a rebate of $20,000-$65,000 per bus, depending on the fuel type of the replacement bus. The highest grant of $65,000 is for an electric bus.
EPA grants totaling $860,000 were awarded in 2019 to five New Jersey bus companies for 48 replacement buses.
Toms River Public Schools also received a $100,000 EPA grant in 2019 to replace five older buses. Those grants are in the process of being issued by EPA.
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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com.
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