THOUGHT LEADER
The Tricky Part About Electric School Buses: Planning and Paying For the ‘Fueling’ Infrastructure
Written by Ewan Pritchard and Stephen Crolius W
e are often in touch with pupil transpor- tation managers across the country. The consensus is, “electric school buses are coming!” But we are also aware that major
challenges lie ahead, even if they are not fully in view yet. Many of those challenges relate to the complex and
potentially expensive process of installing charging systems. Developing reliable infrastructure that will unlock the full benefits of electric school buses (ESBs) takes knowledge, planning, time, and money—all while keeping the current bus fleet operating smoothly. Since the cost of infrastructure routinely runs into the hun- dreds of thousands or millions of dollars, depending on the size of the fleet, it’s clear that creative solutions will be indispensable. The complexity of the challenges that fleets encounter
depend on several factors that strongly influence the ESB financials:
• Phasing: How many steps, rolled out over how many years, do you think it will take to electrify your fleet? What aspects of your infrastructure development should be done up front and all at once? What aspects should be phased? Should some aspects be held off as long as possible, to allow time for new technologies to appear and mature?
• Performance specifications: How much pow- er delivery capacity will you need to meet your transportation needs? How much capacity will you need to optimize your ESB operations, techni- cally and financially?
• Utility relations: What up-front costs will your utility impose on your charging system develop- ment project—including to upgrade the power delivery capacity at your facility? Does your utility offer any forms of financial support? Will there be choices to make among electricity rates?
• Financial upsides: Which potential sources of incremental savings or cash in-flows might be available immediately or at certain points in the future? Enrollment in utility load reduction programs such as demand response? Electric bill
24 School Transportation News • JUNE 2024
reductions for your facility? Back-up power during community disasters? Power export to the grid?
Given the nature and extent of the challenges, we
believe that many school districts will choose to bring in outside vendors to facilitate the development, financ- ing and operation of their ESB charging systems. (We should note that neither of our firms, Carbon-Neutral Consulting and Energetics, is in the business of provid- ing outsourcing solutions of any nature. Our interest is in seeing widespread uptake of ESBs. This will help our clients and society!) A variety of “as-a-service” outsourcing models have
appeared whose scope includes charging systems. The major variants include:
• Charging as a Service (CaaS) - A vendor provides vehicle charging on a turnkey basis
•
Electrification as a Service (EaaS) - A vendor provides electric school buses and charging on a turnkey basis
• Transportation as a Service (TaaS) – A vendor covers all aspects of electric bus deployment and operation, including drivers
Many districts that operate their own fleets will con-
sider the CaaS model first. A typical version of the CaaS offering takes place as follows:
• The school district and vendor sign a long-term contract, commonly with a duration of at least 10 years.
• The vendor covers the charging system’s up-front capital expenditure.
• For the length of the contract, the school district makes monthly payments at the rate specified in the contract.
• With the concurrence of the district, the vendor takes responsibility for designing and installing the charging system.
• The vendor makes an arrangement with the elec- tric utility and pays for the electricity used by the buses.
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