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Thousands of diesel-powered school buses could get a second life as all-electric vehicles.
EV maker SEA Electric and school-bus dealer Midwest Transit Equipment are partnering up to help accelerate the electrification of school buses. The two plan to convert 10,000 existing school buses to battery power over the next five years.
Just the start: There are about half a million school buses across the US—the largest public transportation network in the country. As these predominantly diesel-powered buses move 26 million students back and forth to school each day, they produce more than 5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
- Transitioning this fleet to electric buses would help cut US bus emissions in half and lessen the negative health effects that exhaust fumes can have on children.
While the cost of powering and maintaining electric buses is lower than those that run on diesel, the price tag for a single 40-foot electric school bus can be as high as $400,000—nearly four times the cost of a $110,000 diesel-powered bus. The high initial expense of these vehicles is part of the reason adoption by school systems has been slow so far. SEA Electric and MTE say customers can purchase two to three re-powered buses for the price of one brand-new electric bus.
SEA Electric will install its SEA-Drive power system, which is currently used in medium- and heavy-duty EVs such as buses and work trucks, into “near-new” school buses. Converting these buses extends their in-service life for about 10 years, the company says.
These electric buses will also be equipped with vehicle-to-grid capabilities. SEA’s power system allows buses to feed electricity back into the power grid from their batteries when they aren’t in use—a V2G application that has already shown promise for creating a more resilient grid.
SEA builds commercial EVs like delivery trucks, garbage trucks, shuttle buses, cargo vans, and passenger vans. The company launched its first model in 2017 and plans to deliver more than 500 EVs by the end of this year. As fleet electrification accelerates, SEA aims to have more than 15,000 EVs out to customers by the end of 2023.
Looking ahead: The infrastructure bill signed into law by President Biden in November includes $2.5 billion for battery-powered school buses over the next five years, along with another $2.5 billion for “low-emissions” buses that run on CNG, propane, or biofuels.