All Aboard The Electric School Bus!

Twenty full-grown adults filed into an electric school bus without air conditioning on a 90 degree afternoon … with the hope that children will come on board in the future and help tackle the climate crisis.

Hamden leaders and legislators joined community advocates from across Connecticut on Tuesday for the (fossil fuel) free ride across town and a lesson on electrifying student transportation.

Live Green CT, a public charity focused on promoting sustainable practices across the state, hosted the event at the Miller Memorial Library Hamden alongside The Lion Electric Company, a lead manufacturer of zero-emission vehicles.

The baseline objective is to get Hamden on board to purchase at least one electric school bus this year — and to start building the interest and trust necessary within Hamden and Connecticut in a broader transition away from diesel-powered transportation.

Growing efforts are being made at federal, state, and local levels to invest in sustainable transportation. Last week President Biden announced his support for a $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, which includes plans to electrify thousands of school and transit buses. In 2019, the Connecticut General Assembly committed to electrify 30 percent of Connecticut’s heavy-duty fleet purchases by 2030.

Cities and towns within Connecticut have been making strides to collectively reach that goal, pursuing funds to purchase battery electric buses (BEBs). Middletown was the first Connecticut municipality to specifically purchase a ​“Type A” electric school bus, which fits roughly 30 elementary school children. New Haven got the second school bus; that one is ​“Type C,” which stands for conventional, meaning the bus carries the standard load of around 70 children.

Those are currently the only two electric school buses in the state, while many more electric transit buses and light-duty electric vehicles have already been successfully integrated into the daily life of Nutmeggers. Hamden, a town which is known throughout Connecticut for its collective environmental consciousness, could be the next to hop on the electric school bus movement.

Kevin King, the sales coordinator for Lion Electric, explained the buzz over electric school buses from the front of one of the company’s own glossy, yellow buses during a short demo ride around town.

As their name suggests, BEBs use batteries to power an electric motor, meaning they do not emit any tailpipe emissions. Those batteries take six to eight hours to fully charge, which is typically done outdoors and overnight. The buses also have hydraulic brakes, which not only last three to four times longer than air brakes but also convert the bus’ kinetic energy into electricity to help charge its battery. Depending on the vehicle, a charged battery means the bus can travel between 100 and 155 miles. The average school route is only 40 miles.

“The dashboard will show kilowatts, but once you take a left turn into the passenger seat area, it’s a school bus.” While the electric school bus, from the outside, looks pretty much like your average school bus, it’s what’s inside that makes them special.

Switching from a diesel-powered to electric school bus spares 23 tons of greenhouse gases from pouring into the air per year. Electric buses also cut down on noise pollution.

King cited studies which show students who ride electric buses perform better in school than those who take diesel-powered buses. Quieter and calmer rides to class, improved respiratory health and less intense allergies factor into those findings.

Tommy Pichet, Tuesday’s hired bus driver, added that the usual ​“noise and odor” of a diesel-powered bus ​“just get to you.” While driving an electric bus, he finds ​“the ride is smooth, nice, and quiet. It makes a huge difference in terms of the energy you have to pay attention to the road.” And, he said, it means fewer headaches for him at the end of a long day.

Electric school buses are significantly more expensive to purchase upfront than diesel and hybrid ones — usually around twice the cost, at about $200,000. But they’re estimated to save around $50,000 each year on standard fuel and maintenance costs.

So why haven’t we already replaced all of our school buses with electric ones?

According to Daphne Dixon, the co-founder and executive director of Live Green, the primary challenges in the process include finding the necessary funds to support the upfront costs of transitioning to electric buses, learning about and implementing the necessary infrastructure to support those buses, and educating the public about the trustworthiness and importance of this new technology.

“We have to summon up leaders in each community to take this on when it may not be in their job descriptions,” she said.

Tom Ariola, the chief operating officer of Hamden schools, has been attending seminars and talking with other towns for around two years to determine the cost effectiveness of buying electric school buses. He said that last year he entertained the idea of purchasing one bus, like Middletown or New Haven, but that the ​“cost efficiencies weren’t there.” He said the district is currently working to analyze the most financially productive to invest. For example, he asserted that a charging station for a bus has ​“two sides,” so buying a two-in-one-charger would not make sense if Hamden only bought one bus.

Eighty five percent of Connecticut students are transported by buses provided by private contractors. Ariola said that Hamden’s contract with First Student is going out to bid next year, and that after Hamden identifies the costs and revenue sources of integrating electric buses into the current fleet, a demand for electric buses will be incorporated into the new contract.

Kevin King noted that there is ​“misinformation and misunderstanding” concerning the infrastructural costs of electric buses. He said it is, in fact, possible to buy a single charger from Lion Electric to support one school bus at a time for $2,500 plus a $5,000 installation fee.

Either way, King stated that ​“public subsidies and grants are absolutely necessary” to financially support the initial move to electric school buses.

Dixon is urging Hamden to apply through the Volkswagen Diesel Emission Mitigation Program in early fall of this year to achieve funding for new school buses. This is the last year that Hamden will be eligible for that grant money, which would cover 65% of the cost for an electric bus.

“This is a team effort,” Dixon said, stating that leaders from across the district and school board must come together to ensure that Hamden commits to beginning to electrify their school buses this year.

King added it’s the community members who ​“come out” to learn more about sustainable transportation who ​“drive this agenda.”