More electric school buses are coming, but are we ready?

PEORIA – Electric school buses are starting to appear in central Illinois, and more are on the way thanks to a $1 billion federal grant.

Producing zero emissions, the buses are a great choice for the environment and the health of children, but critics worry that the technology and infrastructure are not ready for electric to be adopted in a big way.

Administrators at a school district in Peoria County learned pretty quickly that electric has limitations. Hollis Consolidated School District got a brand-new electric school bus in 2020 with money from the settlement of the Edwards coal plant lawsuit. While the bus works great for the district’s daily 30-mile route, it left a group of children stranded during a field trip to Tanners Orchard in 2021.

“The heater actually affects the battery quite a bit,” said Chad Jones, superintendent at Hollis schools. “It depletes the battery at a faster rate than it would if it’s not on."

It was a chilly day in October when the group left for a 45-minute trip to Tanners, and the bus had already been used to bring kids to school that morning. By the time they arrived at Tanners, the bus needed to be charged. There were no chargers at the orchard, so the driver went elsewhere, and finally found one at the Grand Prairie Hy-Vee. But it wasn’t a fast charger, and the driver waited with the bus for the majority of the day.

“I had to call First Student, which is our third-party bus company here in Bartonville, and I sent a bus to pick the kids up when they were ready,” Jones said.

Though the tiny district only needs one bus, they now own two. The second bus is powered by diesel fuel.

“As much I love the electric bus, it's kind of tough when you can't take it from my school to Riverview, which is in East Peoria, because you think you're gonna run out of battery,” Jones said. “Maybe down the line, when everybody has an electric bus and everybody has a charging station, I can send my teams over to Riverview and they’ve got a charger, and they can charge while the game is going on, and you have enough battery to get home.”

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More electric school buses are on the way

While electric school buses are a rarity in central Illinois, that's about to change. The first round of funding from the Biden administration’s $1 billion Clean School Bus program has been distributed, and two central Illinois districts will soon bring electric into their fleets. Galesburg Community Unified School District got more than $9 million to purchase 23 buses, and $2.675 million was awarded to Williamsfield Schools for seven buses.

Williamsfield superintendent Tim Farquer is a proponent of electric buses. When the district gets its new buses, probably by the time school begins next year, all but one of its fleet of nine will be powered by electric.

“We’ve already bought a re-powered bus that we should have in January. It’s a 2015 diesel bus that they took the engine out of and put in an electric motor battery,” Farquer said. “Then we’re going to keep one diesel for longer trips, until the infrastructure gets built out across the state."

Benefits to health and the environment

Health benefits are the main reason Williamsfield is going all-in on electric school buses, Farquer said.

“If there’s technology out there that can provide a more healthy environment for our kids, if it’s viable technology, we should deploy it,” he said. “And it’s well documented that, especially kids with asthma − that rate does nothing but increase − they suffer the most from riding a diesel bus to and from school. Anybody who has spent any time on bus duty in the winter when there’s 12 or 15 of those buses hanging out in front of the school, I mean it can choke you.”

The benefits of electric buses go beyond the school and extend out into the community. During low usage periods, like in the summer when kids aren’t in school, the district will be producing a surplus of solar energy which can be used by the community. This will lessen the dependence on coal fired power plants, and was a key reason the district chose to install solar panels to power their buses, Farquer said.

“If we don’t electrify in a way that supports renewable energy, all we’re doing is asking them to dump more coal in the Powerton Power plant,” he said.

The district is setting an example for students and the community when it comes to responsible energy usage. Being able to make a positive impact on the environment was a goal nearly as important as having a positive impact on students’ health, Farquer said.

"We are teaching the dangers of carbon emissions, and we’re living through more extreme weather patterns. If we don’t do everything in our power to reduce those emissions that science says are causing these climate events, then we’re just not living up to what we say should be done.”

What about Peoria schools?

Although Peoria Public Schools was not among the 15 Illinois school districts named in the first round of federal funding, they expect to get chosen in subsequent rounds. Planning is already underway for adding a few electric vehicles to their fleet of 100.

There is a lot to think about when adding electric buses to a fleet. Josh Collins, director of Transportation and Fleet Services for Peoria Public Schools, has been weighing the pros and cons of the new technology.

One con is the cost. While federal grant money is making adoption of the new technology possible for school districts now, what will happen in the future?

Electric buses will need new batteries when they are about nine years old - batteries currently cost about $90,000 - and buses are typically replaced when they are about 15-years-old, Collins said. PPS buys used diesel buses, which typically cost between $70,000 and $80,000, verses the cost of a new electric bus, $350,000. If federal funds aren't available when batteries and buses begin to age out, districts may end up reverting to diesel fleets in the future, Collins said.

In spite of these considerations, Collins said he was disappointed the district wasn’t named in the grant.

“I was excited at the opportunity to be at the forefront of getting this technology and the opportunity to test this technology, and then to have our students and families have the benefits that come from EV vehicles, which is improved air quality,” Collins said. “We have areas in our city that have suffered due to heavy pollution and poor air quality. From that point of view, yes, it would be helpful for Peoria Public Schools, our students and their families, to have a lower emissions vehicle.”

Leslie Renken can be reached at (309) 370-5087 or lrenken@pjstar.com. Follow her on Facebook.com/leslie.renken.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: What are the pros and cons of electric school buses?