Electric school buses will be coming to Henniker and Rumney, the two New Hampshire school districts that won rebates as part of almost $1 billion given to 389 districts around the country by the EPA to accelerate the switch to clean transportation for public schools.
Some 20 other New Hampshire public school districts, including Concord, applied for the rebates but have been put on a waiting list. The awards were made through a lottery system.
In May, EPA announced the availability of $500 million for its Clean School Bus Program. Given overwhelming demand from school districts across the country, including tribal nations and territories, EPA nearly doubled the amount of funding that will be awarded to $965 million. The rebate application period closed in August.
School districts who received an award can now buy new buses and eligible infrastructure such as charging stations and electric upgrades. EPA is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Transportation to provide school districts with technical assistance.
Henniker was awarded $1.6 million in rebates for four electric buses. It contracts its bus service through Student Transportation of America, one of the country’s largest operators of school buses, out of a facility in Weare.
Henniker is part of SAU 24 with Weare and John Stark High School. It’s not clear whether the electric buses might be used for those systems as well.
“We are still working through the details, but we are thrilled to receive this award with our transportation partner, Student Transportation of America,” said SAU 24 Business Manager Christopher Roy.
Electric school buses are much more expensive to buy than gas or electric buses but have many advantages starting with no tailpipe pollution. Electric vehicles also have much lower operating costs, both because they’re cheaper to fuel and because they are much simpler machines than internal-combustion vehicles and have fewer maintenance needs.
Another advantage is that, because they spend much of their time sitting and operate on predictable schedules, bus batteries can be used to store and sell electricity, helping to stabilize the power grid and making some money for school systems.
The awards include the ability to spend up to $20,000 per bus of the grant on infrastructure such as chargers and electric system upgrades.
China is far ahead of the United States in electrifying its school bus fleet. That country had an estimated 60,000 electric buses on the road in 2020.
