SPECIAL REPORT
Maintaining the Emerging Fleet of Electric School Buses
Written by Jim Romeo I
f successful, some $20 billion may ultimately come from Washington, D.C. lawmakers to convert the nation’s fleet of gasoline- and diesel-powered school buses to electric vehicles as part of an over-
arching infrastructure plan to improve children’s health. Because school buses represent about 90 percent of the nation’s total bus fleet and transport nearly 25 million children each day, this is an important development and one that will present new challenges and opportunities. One such challenge and opportunity is having tech-
nicians and mechanics who can provide service to the electric school buses that are emerging and populating school fleets throughout the country. Mark Alford, a heavy-duty mechanic with Cajon Valley Union School District located near San Diego is one of the two me- chanics that service all the district’s buses. Cajon Valley has five electric buses from the Ca- nadian-based manufacturer Lion Electric Company. Representatives came to the district and provided initial training that is covered under the purchase agreement and warranty. Lion also has online training and instruc- tion that is self-serve. “All the rules and regulations according to [the Cal-
ifornia Highway Patrol] apply the same, whether it’s gasoline, diesel, electric, propane, or CNG,” commented Alford. “Nothing really changes. Tires and brakes and general wear and tear, and all that other stuff is pretty much the same.” Overall, he is upbeat about the electric buses, only rais-
ing caution that the range is limited but usually sufficient. “You get about 60 miles out of them at best running air conditioning or heaters,” he noted. “You’re really pretty limited on what you can do with them on a daily basis.” Most shops will be used to maintaining diesel powered buses, which can be problematic at times due to regen issues and not as clean as electric vehicles (EV). In addi- tion, schools have purchased buses from manufacturers that were pressured to maintain increasingly tougher emission standards. Much of the industry sees the tran- sition to electric for school districts to be an easy one.
School Buses Are Not Alone in Facing Electric Vehicle Maintenance Electric bus training is front and center in school bus
OEM offerings. Blue Bird includes training as part of its “EV Ecosystem,” and training is a key component of the Thomas Built Buses Electric Bus Authority program. The
18 School Transportation News • AUGUST 2021
Cajon Valley Union School District near San Diego benefits from OEM training and vehicle warranties to train its two mechanics on electric buses.
same goes with the IC Bus NEXT eMobility Solutions as well as training by theLion Electric Company. “The transition for technicians and mechanics from
maintaining internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to EVs is not expected to be difficult,” said Rich Mohr, global vice president for fleet solutions at ChargePoint based in Campbell, California. ChargePoint operates in 14 coun- tries and focuses on electric vehicle charging technology. “Professionals who are trained to maintain [internal
combustion engine] buses make a fairly seamless tran- sition to maintaining EV buses because they are already experts in the components of the bus,” added Mohr. “The technology is not starkly different. There are simply less components for the mechanic or technician to consider. Most technicians and mechanics are required to com- plete EV technical training on batteries and diagnostics, and they have adapted as technology and fueling have shifted in the past (i.e., gas, diesel, propane, natural gas, new emission technology). Overall, more flexibility of service network and simplicity of the EV bus compo- nents allows for more levels of skilled technicians to maintain EV buses.” Other commercial firms are creating training pro- grams for electric vehicle maintenance technicians and mechanics. For instance, Motiv Power Systems in
PHOTO CREDIT: CAJON VALLEY UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT
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