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W


hen he began acquiring electric school buses (ESBs) for Modesto City Schools in California’s Central Valley, Gilbert Blue Feather Rosas was already thinking years


into the future—to a time when nearly the entire fleet would be electric. In January 2022, the district made its first electric bus


order, and after supply chain delays, 30 electric bus- es should arrive by June. Meanwhile, last summer the district raced to install 32 chargers, including two fast DC chargers and stub-ups for 12 more. That’s enough charging capacity to power up to 50 buses, said Rosas, the district’s sustainability and adaptation director. That number accounts for the entire fleet minus 12 buses needed for longer field trips. By summer’s end, the district paved over the electric


hookups so the yard could still be used by conventional buses while awaiting the electric vehicles. It was all about futureproofing, or ensuring that even


while taking the first, perhaps small steps toward elec- trifying a fleet, one is laying the groundwork to scale up and expand in the future. It’s a delicate balance of doing things in advance while also starting slow and being able to learn lessons and adapt along the way. Rosas undertook a similar mission in his previous


post at Stockton Unified School District. He shepherded the acquisition of 11 electric buses there and oversaw the implementation of charging infrastructure for 24 buses. Now, Stockton has approval for funding 22 more electric buses. “If you build it, they will come,” said Rosas. “That is


futureproofing, with a phase two already starting before we finished phase one.” He compares his passion for getting electric buses for


students living in environmental justice communities to “that [of a] single mom at the cash register, we waited our turn in line, and we’ll beg, borrow and steal every- thing we can for our kids,” he said. There’s copious planning involved in finding the most


economical and effective way to acquire and roll out new electric buses and install charging infrastructure over time. For example, Modesto waited on installing some charging infrastructure so the district could have solar panels to pair with them and collect incentives for charging fueled by solar. “It’s about checking with all your partners and your


utility company to see what programs they have, check- ing with your local air district,” Rosas said. “Will the utility district let us do it? Will the air district support it? What kinds of funds and rules are we looking at?” He shared that Modesto also planned on where to put future charging infrastructure, to make sure it wouldn’t


42 School Transportation News • APRIL 2023


impede passage of vehicles from the white fleet. Meanwhile, Rosas plotted how to best electrify those white-fleet vehicles in tandem with buses in the future. “How do I maximize the efficiency, the use of space, the solar we have, the chargers we have, with every piece of equipment?” Rosas said. “I don’t think there’s any down- side to dreaming big. It allows you to prepare for the future. If you pick an optimistic goal and shoot for the stars, if you end somewhere close, you’re all good. But if you underestimate what you are capable of, then you have to come up with a lot more money.” This can include, for example, digging up a parking lot again to add charging infrastructure that could have been set the first time around.


Mapping It Out The World Resources Institute (WRI) in conjunction


with the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) studies how districts can best prepare for adding electric buses in the future, with a particular emphasis on electrifying fleets that serve environmental justice communities most affected by diesel pollution. A recent report found that adding expensive DC 50-kw fast chargers may actually be less effective than multiple much more affordable level 2 AC chargers. For example, if there is enough time between routes for multiple level 2 chargers to work, that could be better than a shared fast charger that will necessitate moving buses in and out as they charge. “What people don’t realize is DC fast-charging is a


very manual process,” said Gregg Kresge, WRI’s senior manager for utility management and transportation electrification, describing a process made even more difficult if charging is supposed to happen in the eve- ning or overnight when few staff are on the clock. “It’s so expensive. [Fast-chargers] run close to $100,000 a piece. The charger itself can be $30,000 to $40,000, and there is infrastructure, permitting, interconnection, electrical contractor costs.” Level 2 chargers might cost only one-tenth of that


total, he added, noting, “It’s much slower charging, but your infrastructure costs are much less. For one DC fast charger, you could install 10 Level 2s.” Much depends on the layout of the charging area and the school’s schedule and fleet needs—factors that should be studied in depth as part of futureproofing as well as obtaining detailed engineering estimates for construction costs and considering different places to set chargers. The recent study by WRI and CTE found that initial high-level cost estimates are often sig- nificantly lower than actual costs, so districts “should engage a design-build firm early in the process to gather


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