Beaverton School District near Portland, Oregon has increased its electricity use by five times since last year. View this and other data on the district’s electric school buses at
stnonline.com/go/j8.
providers such as Zenobē with expertise in microgrid smart-charging software, and recognizing the impor- tance of driver training. “People say, ‘Why do you talk about driver training
when you talk about a utility interconnect site?” Meers- man added. “If you can get the drivers to consume 40 percent less electricity, you don’t need to put as much in every night. So, it’s really getting people to understand that all these things come together and every electron is worth fighting for, and the one you save upfront will save you dollars. That’s really our approach. And then we model that out through 10 years of operation.” Gilbert Rosas, the director of sustainability and adapta-
tion with Modesto City Schools in California, illustrated that point when he spoke of his district’s conversion to electric buses. “There’s a learning curve. If your pedal’s heavy, you can mess up your mileage just like with diesel. Seventy miles is our average route but they can go up to 120 miles. We have a driver, Carmen Pena, who by the time she comes back still has 120 miles (of distance) left because she uses the regenerative braking,” Rosas said. “It’s almost like she doesn’t need to charge when she comes back for her
40 School Transportation News • JUNE 2024
afternoon run. Now it’s a competition and the drivers can figure out who the [winner] is. Carmen didn’t want to drive an electric bus but her route was chosen for it. Now she says, ‘I’ll never go back. It’s too much fun.’” Clancy noted the push toward electrification and mi-
crogrids has different motivators. “It could be top down, it could be policy led, it could be bottom up from the community, or it could be a transportation director or facility director who’s really leaned in,” she added. “Cer- tainly, the Clean School Bus [Program] funding has been a big driver. But it’s happening everywhere.” With its current use of renewable propane and a
concerted effort to beef up its electric bus numbers, Beaverton School District in Oregon has “essentially eliminated petroleum fuel” from its future, said Craig Beaver, administrator of transportation and fleet director. What started with four electric school buses became 20. Another 10 such vehicles were scheduled to arrive by the end of this school year. “And I have purchase orders in for an additional 50 elec-
tric buses and all those replace diesel buses,” Beaver said. Beaverton, which was the first Oregon district to acquire an electric school bus, was awarded $20 million
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