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Northern Mich. Schools Eligible, Not Excited About Electric Buses

Rural Michigan schools are reticent to participate in an upcoming federal rebate program for electric school buses, in part because they're concerned about charging infrastructure and reliability in cold weather.

electric school bus illustration
(TNS) — Northern Michigan districts could be among the most eligible candidates for an upcoming federal rebate program to fund electric school buses.

But, while the money is there, the incentive may still be too weak for many rural Michigan communities to buy in. In some cases, the infrastructure may still be lacking, meaning that even if they got vehicles, school officials wouldn't be able to rely on them to effectively transport students. Rural distances and northern Michigan weather may also present challenges.

"My opinion is that schools are going to need some time to really look at the process, work with their boards of education, and make sure funding supports the whole thing, not just the bus itself," said Julie Brown, superintendent of Elk Rapid Schools.

Brown was surprised to hear that rural districts were being given high priority for the most recent funding push from the Environmental Protection Agency. Elk Rapids had looked into such grants before, and the conclusion had been that the technology was not yet developed enough to meet their needs, she said.

"You have to be careful with that in a rural area, because of the distance and the charge time," she said.

The first obstacle is the need to purchase and install an on-site charging station, often an investment requiring thousands of dollars.

"There's not a way that I could install electric charging stations right now," Brown said. "It was too quick of a turnaround; you can't do that in a year, and I haven't heard anything about that kind of infrastructure (being installed in the community)."

This particular grant program, the 2022 Clean School Bus Rebates, is the first in a five-year, $5 billion initiative to transition toward low- and zero-emission vehicles. This year, the EPA has $500 million budgeted to dole out among districts nationwide to help fund new buses. The label on the rebate program only mentions the buses themselves, but the EPA specifies that it could fund up to 100 percent of the costs of both the new vehicles, as well as any charging or fueling infrastructure.

According to material from the EPA, schools classified as "rural" by the National Center for Education Statistics are among the top of the list for consideration. That includes Elk Rapids Schools, as well as most others in the region. Other priorities include low-income area schools, tribal schools and other high-need local education agencies.

The deadline for such districts to apply is Aug. 19. The new vehicles would roll out in October.

Close to four dozen Michigan districts have applied for the money, with plans to purchase 155 new electric buses total, Bridge Magazine reported this week.

But the benefits of the program also depend heavily on the degree to which the network can scale up.

With the longer distances rural buses need to travel — not just during their normal rounds, but also on special trips to other school districts and out-of-town events — there doesn't seem to be a way to insure the bus would be able to make the return trip. That concern is amplified in the winter, when northern Michigan's cold weather would reduce the charge capacity of the electric vehicle's battery.

If another school district did have a charging station at their location, the question would arise of who ought to pay for it, Brown said.

The legislation which established the funding for this program, the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, does earmark money in the future for that upfront infrastructure. $7.5 billion, for example, is being directed toward the installation of 500,000 public charging stations.

Brown also said she wonders if the school's current mechanical contractor would be able to facilitate repairs for an electrical vehicle, with its unique set of technical needs.

The district generally replaces one bus per year, which lends itself to a 10-year cycle of completely overhauling the fleet. If the EPA covered the cost of one electric vehicle, the district would be able to save approximately $100,000 of what it normally spends on a new non-electric bus.

"So if you could recapture that $100,000, let's say, then you have money for not just teaching and curriculum, but also the mental health needs that we know that we have of our students," Brown said. "So it would have been a huge impact to support at least one-time funding to give students more programming. And that was exactly what I started looking at — could we access that?"

In the past, the answer has been no. Brown said that, with the EPA targeting rural districts, the investment could merit another look. But still, that may not be enough time for the district to take advantage of this first round of funding.

"There's just a lot of questions," she said. "And most importantly, I want my students to be transported safely, and be able to get back to where they need to be."

©2022 The Record-Eagle (Traverse City, Mich.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.