Many districts and bus providers “don’t have the band-
width, when you have to run your business too, to go after something that’s new and not easily laid out,” Sny- der continued. “That’s the research gap we tried to fill. Their buses are their tools, they have to feel comfortable, will this bus work for me—will it get people from point A to point B, cost-effectively and reliably?” Pinky Friedman, director of Compass Transportation,
added that he didn’t think a private contractor would qualify. “But [the students] really helped doing research for us,” he said “Certainly everyone is interested [in elec- tric buses]. However, the cost is right now way too high without a grant.” Snyder said he and other students are eager to contin-
ue advocating for electric buses. “How do you scale what we’ve done here, that’s the big
question,” he said. “Having the electric bus in Evanston will create a lot of attention and get a lot of people in the area to ask why [don’t] we have electric buses? This is a real thing, it’s something tangible like the Tesla effect when your neighbor next door gets one.” Meanwhile, Mudd is co-founder of Women Accelerat-
ing School Bus Electrification and a tireless advocate of electric school buses. She is grateful for the infusion of VW settlement dollars, not to mention the federal Clean School Bus funds that are set to start flowing this spring in the form of the first rebate program. But she voiced frustration at how hard it can be for districts to apply for or even find out about the VW funds. “We’re glad this money is getting out, but what this tells me is there needs to be more outreach to schools and an easier process for schools being informed in advance of an announcement,” said Mudd, who is scheduled to speak in June at STN EXPO Indianapolis. “These announce- ments have come out with no advance notice, they’re not always well-timed in terms of school calendars, and there’s very little information sharing so that the school districts are actually ready to fill out applications.” More could be done particularly to help districts get the infrastructure they’ll need to charge electric buses, she noted. Previously, Illinois set aside 10 percent of VW funds for charging. That amount is now 15 percent, but Mudd said it’s still unclear as to how districts can tap into the funds. The state’s sweeping clean energy law passed last
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