The first electric bus was delivered to Campton Elementary School in the Wolfe County district on Aug 7. As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean School Bus Program, 65 additional electric buses are on order for 10 different districts in the Bluegrass State, according to a news release last week.
Located in Southeastern Kentucky, Wolfe County is a scenic area with abundant hills and the Red River Gorge. Wolfe County District Superintendent Kenny Bell said in a public statement that his community cares about protecting natural resources, and it’s important to share these values with local students.
“This helps us create a greener county and a sustainable future for generations to come,” Bell's statement read. "More importantly, this allows us to model to our students that we not only talk about green energy, we not only talk about environmental sustainability, but we take action."
While the new electric buses cost about $400,000, compared to $150,000 for a diesel bus, over time money is saved on fuel and maintenance, according to the news release. Wolfe County has four charging stations. It takes eight to nine hours to fully charge an electric bus.
John Halsey, a school bus driver in the Wolfe County district since 2000, was the first to pick up students in the new vehicle when the academic year began last week.
“Starting 23 years ago, I would’ve never dreamed that Wolfe County would be the first [in Kentucky] with an electric school bus on the road,” Halsey said in a public statement. “It means a lot. It took a lot of hard work.”
The Wolfe County district will get funding for three electric buses. Statewide, the EPA program will fund 68 electric buses, with 23 going to Carter County, 13 going to Bowling Green Independent School District, seven to the Fleming County district and the other 21 buses spread out among six other districts.
Nationally, the EPA will spend $5 billion in rebates and grants over a five-year period to replace existing school buses with low- and zero-emission models. As part of this initiative, researchers are also looking at “vehicle-to-grid” technologies that could store surplus power in batteries and feed it back into community electric grids when the buses are not in use, according to the news release.
According to the EPA website, Wyoming is the only remaining state in the nation that has yet to benefit from this program; however, the Albany County School District there is on a waiting list with its request for $526,000 toward the purchase of two electric buses.
School districts still have a little time to apply for a share of the $400 million that is available for the current funding round. Applications are due Aug. 22. Award notifications will be made between November and January, with the benefiting district receiving grants by the end of March 2024, according to the EPA website.
Since the program was announced in September, the EPA has received about 2,000 applications requesting a total of $4 billion in funding for 12,000 buses. In addition to applicants from every state and Washington, D.C., the pool of eligible recipients also includes districts from Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and federally recognized tribes.
