Tennessee school districts receive $12 million for electric school buses
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — In a push to make yellow school buses greener, several Tennessee school districts will receive a combined $12 million to cover the additional cost of replacing diesel school buses with electric school buses through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program.
The EPA’s program will provide $5 billion over five years (2022-2026) to replace school buses across the nation with ones that are better for the environment and students’ health.
Eight Tennessee counties are set to receive four or more buses: Bledsoe, Cheatham, Davidson, Jackson, Maryville, Obion, Wayne, and Henry.
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After applying for the grant two previous times, Metro Nashville Public Schools was selected as a recipient of the funding this year. The district will use the money to supplement the additional cost of replacing 15 diesel buses with electric, ideally by next school year.
“The health folks tell us there should be some accompanying health benefits to the students, both who are riding the bus and waiting in line whilst the buses are idling,” said Ken Stark, the executive officer of operations for MNPS.
In addition, electric buses are much quieter and require less maintenance than their diesel counterparts, according to Stark, including no oil changes, which will save the district money in the long run.
Since MNPS currently does not have any electric buses in its fleet, there could be some potential challenges, including having to reroute buses due to new range limitations and training maintenance crews on the new electric system.
“It might be a little bit for our maintenance team to learn some of the differences between those, but overall they’re not huge things. They’re things that are certainly manageable I think,” Stark said.
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The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) started helping school districts with the transition to electric buses in the Spring of 2021. Ryan Stanton, a senior project manager for the TVA, told News 2 districts are commonly concerned about how the buses work in cold weather, whether they move well uphill, and how many miles they can travel before needing a charge, but a case study of an electric bus roll-out at Bledsoe County Schools has helped work out the kinks.
“They had a few challenges they had to work through in terms of charging infrastructure, but by and large, it’s worked really well for them. A lot of the lessons that [Brian Turner, Bledsoe County Schools maintenance supervisor] learned along the way, we’re now passing along to other districts.”
Stanton added the pros of electric buses outweigh any potential cons.
“It’s kind of a triple benefit,” he continued. “The community sees a reduction in noise, a reduction in pollution, and then the school district realizes a reduction in operating costs.”
According to Stanton, electric buses use around two houses’ worth of electricity, which likely won’t add significant stress to the power grid. The TVA is currently working to prepare for the influx in power needed as more districts roll out electric buses.
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“We’ve been growing loads since we were formed,” Stanton said. “Air conditioning, refrigeration, hot water, all those things have been transitions along the way; chapters of development and growth throughout the Tennessee Valley. I think of electric vehicles as very similar. It’s the next chapter of growth and electrification in the valley.”
MNPS said due to supply chain issues, the district will likely roll out the electric buses next school year.
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