West Aurora School District 129 is looking further into a proposal to add electric school buses to its fleet.
The proposal to add 27 electric buses to replace some older diesel models was brought back to be school board for discussion recently. If made, the move would potentially involve more than one-third of the district’s bus fleet.
“We wanted to dive deeper and take this opportunity to take a pause,” West Aurora School District Assistant Superintendent of Operations Angie Smith told board members.
The board has made no decision yet on electric buses.
The district has a fleet of 73 buses powered by diesel engines, half of which are under two-year leases due to expire at the end of the school year.
Until recent changes, electric buses have been cost-prohibitive, Smith said.
Electric bus prices are almost three times the cost of a regular bus, and even with potential rebates and incentives, they would have likely been twice the cost of a diesel-fueled bus, she said.
Some changes have made the school district’s administration look closer at a proposal to make a switch to add some electric buses, including competitive pricing, federal funding and rebates, officials said.
For instance, Smith previously noted the district applied for and was awarded a $5.5 million grant through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program.
The availability of incentives has been a key factor in the district’s consideration of adding electric buses.
“There has been no reduction to the incentives, and we actually have heard some may be increased, which would just reduce our cost even further,” Smith said in an email to questions from The Beacon-News.
The district could potentially consider a partnership through Massachusetts-based Highland Electric Fleets to bring in the electric buses, or go it alone. Highland has projects across the country and has specialized knowledge in the field of electric buses, officials have said.
Under either option, the district is looking at Lion Electric Co. buses.
With either path the district would be coming out significantly ahead of what it would cost to purchase gas buses, Smith said.
“The incentives bring the cost of an EV bus down to around $60,000 each. A new gas-powered bus is around $160,000 and there are currently no incentives applicable to purchase gas buses,” Smith said. “In addition to the capital cost, based on other districts that have had EVs in operation for the past few years, the cost to operate an EV per mile is 18 cents vs. 58 cents for a gas-powered bus.”
Between the two options, the district is looking to “strike the right balance between flexibility and stability,” Smith said.
“This is a $9 million plus project and the board is doing their due diligence to make sure they have as much information as possible prior to making a decision on which path to take,” she said.
There are risks involved in both approaches, officials said.
“You can never completely eliminate risk, but under both options we have a few. If we go on our own, we have never done a charging project of this scale before. We need not just buses but power. If we go it alone and we do not get the chargers installed on time, we will need to scramble to get buses to cover,” Smith said.
“If we go with Highland, they would be responsible for providing backup transportation at their cost. Highland brings some expertise and experience to this project that we don’t have,” she said.
A partnership with Highland could potentially involve some “loss of flexibility,” and “ultimately it could cost us slightly more if all the stars were to align and we never had any issues with the buses or chargers. We are paying for that protection and expertise,” Smith said.
The board is set to make a decision on electric buses on Nov. 18.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
