Students in six rural Nebraska school districts will be riding to school in new electric school buses beginning next fall.
The districts were awarded grants in the 2022 round of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Rebate Program.
The EPA received $5 billion over five years from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to replace older diesel buses with low- or no-emission ones. The Nebraska school districts will receive nearly $400,000 to cover the cost of the bus and the charging infrastructure.
Kyle Finke, superintendent of Summerland School District in Ewing, said the opportunity was hard to pass up.
“To buy a diesel bus right now, it’s around $120,000, and the grant that I received will pay for the electric vehicle bus that I just purchased; so, I mean, it’s good for the district,” Finke contended.
Finke noted it costs his district around $200 a week to fill one of the diesel buses. He anticipates it costing less than $10 a week to charge the new bus during off-peak hours.
The bus should be good for more than just the district’s budget. The American Lung Association said there is “clear scientific evidence” diesel exhaust is harmful to health, especially in children, and the EPA said it also negatively affects the environment, global climate and environmental justice.
Finke expects there will be a learning curve, and the bus may be the first fully-electric vehicle in Summerland’s four-county district.
“In the state of Nebraska, we’re probably all wondering what this is going to look like and how it’s going to serve,” Finke explained. “I think it’s just something that’s kind of a teaching tool. I know there’s some people out there that are still skeptical. I hope it’s going to be a positive for everybody.”
McCool Junction Public Schools, which already has a propane-powered school bus, is another one of the Nebraska grant winners.
Dade McDonald, the district’s superintendent, echoed Finke’s sentiments about cost savings being a prime motivator.
“Obviously, it’s a free bus, as well as, you know the cost of diesel currently is — it’s starting to come down — but it’s really up there, and so our costs have been pretty high,” McDonald emphasized.
McDonald added his school board’s research included talking with representatives of a Missouri school district with an electric school bus. He pointed out the grant requires they “decommission” one of their diesel buses.
“Part of the program is, it’s like the old “Cash for Clunkers” type deal,” McDonald emphasized. “You do have to trade one in. We have to take it to the scrapyard and have them scrap it.”
He added with the electric bus having a maximum range of around 120 miles, it is hard for him to imagine combustion engines going away completely. And he stressed they will be keeping close records to share with other districts considering an electric bus. The EPA will have four more rounds of this Clean School Bus Rebate Program between now and 2026.
