The electric school bus rollout reality

The electric school bus rollout reality

Taking commercial vehicle battery electric technology to school.

School bus routes would seem to lend themselves to battery electric operation really well. In the early pilot phases of battery electric vehicles, OEMs touted the lessons learned through electric school bus deployments that could be brought to the commercial trucking market. Well, class is in session. Electric school buses are rolling and to understand how that reality impacts a school district’s fleet operation, the Amped EV Podcast connected with Rick Grisham, transportation director, Richland County School District One in Columbia, S.C., the 11th-largest school district in South Carolina, and Mabel Feng, director of product management, Proterra.

“Proterra is a company that has a history of delivering clean transportation solutions. We have had our own electric buses on the road for over 10 years,” Feng said. “With U.S. manufacturing facilities on both coasts, our almost 1,000 electric buses have ran 30 million miles. In addition to that, powering over a thousand vehicles with our core battery products.”

“Electrification has a big wave of financial support coming in the next five years,” Grisham said, “and we feel like we have helped set the stage for our state and assisted our state department’s with new laws and rebates. [The electric bus] is super quiet and we joke that the only disadvantage we see with an electric bus is that kids will be getting out of bed late because they won’t hear the bus coming through the neighborhood.”

The school district has 16 battery electric buses coming its way that will join a lineup of buses that include diesel and propane fuel types. A mixed fuel source fleet was a strength, according to Grisham, and he has big plans for electric buses. Watch the video above for the full story on how the school district is planning to utilize its Proterra electric buses.

You May Also Like

Motiv Power Systems delivers five electric step vans to Shasta Linen Supply

Motiv Power Systems announced the completed deployment of five electric delivery vehicles to Shasta Linen Supply, a commercial linen supply company delivering linens, uniforms, and other textiles to more than 1,200 business and professional firms in California. California’s Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) regulation requires fleets to have 50% of their vehicles be all-electric by 2031, and

Motiv Power Systems announced the completed deployment of five electric delivery vehicles to Shasta Linen Supply, a commercial linen supply company delivering linens, uniforms, and other textiles to more than 1,200 business and professional firms in California.

California’s Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) regulation requires fleets to have 50% of their vehicles be all-electric by 2031, and Shasta’s five Motiv trucks now make up half of their fleet. The trucks are now in operation across local routes in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys.

Navigating the EV charging market

Thoughts on future-proofing charging infrastructure installations and charger/EV compatibility.

Amped-Featured-Image-EP36-AUTEL-1000x500
This year’s truck trade show EV trends

Companies focusing on truck maintenance are approaching zero-emissions differently than OEMs designing new EV offerings.

Amped-Featured-Image-EP34-2023-Truck-Shows
Extending equipment sustainability strategies to electric transportation refrigeration units

How fleets are starting to use electric TRUs in zero-emissions operations.

Amped-Featured-Image-Carrier-1400
Medium-duty EVs are charged up for applications

If EV range lends itself to short-route, return-to-home applications, then certainly they’d be prime equipment selections for medium-duty applications that many trucks, vans and chassis cabs configurations tackle on a daily basis. Related Articles – Mercedes-Benz tests eActros 600 in winter service – Lincoln Electric launches Velion DC fast charger for electric vehicles – The

Amped-Featured-Image-EP26

Other Posts

Direct labor vs. indirect labor in fleet shops

Keeping tabs on labor expenditures is important, but make sure you’re taking everything into account before assigning blame.

service-technician-generic-maintenance-downtime-repairs
Legend introduces retracting side step for commercial vans

Legend Fleet Solutions has introduced the Upstep RS3 retracting side step for commercial vans. The announcement was made at this year’s Work Truck Show. Related Articles – Dorman announces new light- and heavy-duty aftermarket parts – NTEA releases 2024 edition of CV certification guide – Lincoln Electric launches Ranger Air 260 MPX multi-function engine drive According to

Clean Energy’s RNG digester at Tri-Cross Dairy begins production

RNG from the $34M project will be sent to Clean Energy’s network of fueling stations across the U.S.

Clean-Energy-RNG-Facility-Tri-Cross-Dairy
GreenPower launches new truck body business

The company says GP Truck Body offers a complete line of truck bodies.

GP_Truck_Body