District to receive four fully electric school buses next school year
By Curt Peterson
Winsdor Central Supervisory Union Director of Finance and Operations Jim Fenn and Butler Bus Co. are purchasing four electric school buses for the Barnard and Woodstock bus routes.
The purchase will be financed by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, facilitated by Geoff Martin, the intermunicipality regional energy oordinator at Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission. The total grant, from the EPA Clean School Bus Rebate Program, is $1.2 million, or $300,000 per bus.
“Electric buses are expensive,” Jim Fenn told the Mountain Times.
Some details regarding the financial arrangements remain to be worked out. For example, Fenn said the EPA funds will be paid directly to WCSU, but ownership of the vehicles is still unclear.
Butler had to designate four fossil fuel buses in its fleet, more than seven years old each, that will be destroyed when replaced, so they don’t end up back on in use in another school district or another country.
Fenn was involved in replacing a gasoline-powered bus with a diesel-fueled unit at another district, also financed with an EPA grant. Part of the requirements was to drill a hole in the engine block and remove the entire front of the vehicle, providing photographs as evidence.
The Barnard and Woodstock routes are specifically designated in the grant proposal as well. Fenn said a separate, additional grant may finance buses for other WCSU routes, such as Prosper Valley and Reading.
Called Jouley buses, the new units will be built by Thomas Bus Co., a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks N.A., in North Carolina. If there are services required beyond what Butler Bus Co. can provide in-house, repairs and maintenance are provided by W. C. Cressey, which has centers in Kennebunk, Maine, Gorham, New Hampshire, and Newport, Vermont. Fenn said some services are performed at Butler or WCSU, or Cressey will take the bus to one of their service centers. Cressey is a dealership for Freightliner trucks, another Daimler subsidiary.
The vehicles, which won’t be delivered until September 2024 at the earliest, are the same size as Butler’s current buses, “Type 1” units seating 24 to 77 students, depending on configuration and need for wheelchair accommodations, etc. The advertised range per charge is 138 miles.
“That won’t be a problem with any of our current routes, which are 40 miles at the most,” Fenn said. “And they can be recharged between runs.”
He said field trips and the runs to Hartford Tech Center may be a challenge.
The bus batteries are usually guaranteed to retain 90% utility for 10 years.
