fall also includes major investments in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, and mandates for utility par- ticipation, all of which could benefit electric school buses.
Equity in Electrification The other co-founder of Women Accelerating School Bus Electrification is Alison Wiley. She is passionate about making sure the rollout of electric school buses nationwide is equitable and benefits the districts and communities that have been most impacted by pollution from fossil fuels. Yet such lower-income communities and communities of color are likely to have under- resourced districts that could find it harder to afford electric buses and charging infrastructure while also allocating the staff time needed to implement a transition. “We really cannot underestimate how stressed school
districts are, how hard their lives are right now,” said Wiley, publisher of the newsletter and website electric-
schoolbus.org. “We need to remember that taking on electrification is a lot. Even with the smallest pilot, it is disruptive to work lives that are already pretty harshly disrupted with COVID and the driver shortage. We also need to keep in mind that many to most utilities don’t yet have experience with charging electric school buses.” She added this is especially the case with electric co-
operatives and municipal utilities that often serve rural areas. “All of this goes to tell us it’s a time-consuming endeavor,” Wiley continued. “The utilities and school dis- tricts need to learn how to speak each other’s language.” She said she hopes utilities will take the lead in work-
ing with districts to electrify, especially since utilities “have a lot to gain” by vehicle electrification. “Like many large organizations, utilities tend to be self-referential,” she said. “In order to help another organi-
Fuel/Energy Types Powering School Buses:
87% Diesel 68% Gasoline 12% Biodiesel blend 12% Propane 6% Electricity 3% CNG 3% Renewable diesel
1% Renewable propane (Out of 177 responses. Total does not equal 100, more than one answer allowed.)
59% of transportation directors said the new $5 billion Clean School Bus Program didn’t increase their interest in obtaining low- and/or zero-emis- sion vehicles.
27% said they are planning to apply for the funds.
17% were unsure of either applying or about the program itself.
9% said they don’t know what the new program is. (Out of 174 responses.)
zation with charging, you have to climb out of your own bubble. Utilities have a ways to go in figuring out how elec- tric school bus charging works, it’s not intuitive to them. They tend to think in terms of their side of the meter, and to team with another organization like a school district, you need to put your head on their side of the meter.” Wiley likes to spread the word about the World Resource
Institute’s Electric School Bus Initiative, which utilizes a grant in the tens of millions of dollars from the Jeff Bezos Fund to provide free consultation for districts, some- thing that can be vital for districts preparing to electrify their fleets. WRI clearly breaks down funding options for districts to acquire electric buses and infrastructure, including utility, government and other sources. Wiley said that the EPA in implementing the Clean School Bus Program “should be supplying school districts with capacity help. School districts will be putting hun- dreds of person-hours into electrifying. They need to pay people for that time.” She is also encouraging districts to sign up for EPA alerts. The Clean School Bus Program prioritizes rural and tribal
districts, where the challenge of finding enough charging stations on the road can be particularly daunting. “You’re dealing with large distances,” said Wiley. “It can
really shoot your day to find yourself out of charge.” She said finding driver and mechanic training can also be a major challenge for rural, tribal and economically disenfranchised districts. While OEMs offer helpful train- ings, she’d like to see more offerings and more outreach to districts by all entities involved. “It’s not enough to just help the school apply for the
grants,” she said. “The harder part is to succeed in your deployment. You need tangible support and capaci- ty-building once you’ve landed the funds.” ●
40 School Transportation News • APRIL 2022
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