The school bus of the future may be coming to a bus stop near you. The Environmental Protection Agency and the North Central Texas Council of Governments have their sights set on bringing low-emission and zero-emission school buses to districts across North Texas.
On Aug. 2, EPA Region 6 staff showcased four electric and emission-free school buses to Dallas-Fort Worth school district leaders to spread the word about the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program.
Attendees had the opportunity to meet with U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, and Region 6 Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance, who oversees EPA operations in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and 66 tribal nations.
The Clean School Bus Program will provide $5 billion to replace traditional school buses with low-emission and zero-emission models during the next five years. With funding from the 2021 federal infrastructure law, the program is offering the first $500 million through the 2022 Clean School Bus Rebates Program to aid selected school districts in replacing their current school buses with cleaner models.
“The goal of the Clean Bus Program is to reduce harmful emissions by replacing diesel-fueled school buses with a cleaner alternative,” said Joe Robledo, a spokesperson for EPA Region 6. “The buses do not discharge air pollutants and are emission-free, therefore improving the air quality of the surrounding communities.”
As a part of the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program, the DFW Clean Cities Coalition – an initiative overseen by the council of governments – is encouraging school districts to apply for funding.
“The transportation sector greatly impacts air quality,” said Amy Hodges, a principal air quality planner at the council of governments. “The mission of Clean Cities is to reduce the traditional fuel energy impact and make (bus) fleets more efficient – we work with all public and private fleets, including the independent school districts.”
Air quality remains a key issue in the region, with the EPA planning to list Dallas-Fort Worth as a “severe” violator of national air quality standards, along with Houston, Denver, Chicago and New York, according to previous Fort Worth Report coverage.
In the United States, school buses travel more than 4 billion miles each year, according to the EPA. Replacing diesel-fueled engines with electric engines can decrease the amount of emissions and help the region meet the stricter air standards.
Applications for the program are due Aug. 19, and the EPA will post the selected school districts by October. The schools picked for funding this year will then be able to start purchasing their school buses. Within the following two years, the school districts should receive their buses and infrastructure and can replace older models.
Fort Worth ISD is among the school districts vying for rebates this year, district spokesperson Claudia Garibay said.
“Fort Worth ISD has a long-term vision of electrifying our fleet,” Garibay said in a statement via email.
Clean buses in Tarrant County
Tarrant County has been a leader in the effort to transition school bus fleets to more eco-friendly options. In 2020, Everman School District – which serves parts of south Fort Worth, Forest Hill, Burleson and the city of Everman – purchased three new clean buses and retrofitted the engines of two diesel-fuel buses.
Everman administrators learned of the opportunity and proposed to the school board that the transition would reduce pollution and fuel and maintenance costs over time, according to the Texas Observer.
Everman received funding from the Texas Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Program, which aided the purchase of the three buses for their fleet.
“Electric school buses are not cheap,” Hodges said. “They’re roughly three times as much as a diesel school bus – it shows how important funding is.”
The program prioritizes high-need school districts, or districts identified in the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates district estimates for 2020 as having 20% or more students living in poverty.
In addition, the EPA will prioritize districts not listed under the data, including charter schools, that self-certify as having 20% or more students living in poverty in accordance with the federal poverty threshold. The EPA may request documentation of those school districts who self-certify, Robledo said.
The program will provide up to $375,000 per bus if the school district is on the EPA’s prioritized list and up to $250,000 per bus if the school district is not on the prioritized list, Robledo said.
“We are hopeful the funding will be sufficient enough to cover the price of the bus or a majority of the cost,” he said.
Fort Worth ISD is on the priority list for the program, according to Robledo.
New diesel buses can cost up to $90,000 on average. However, the annual average cost to operate and maintain a diesel bus can range from $34,000 to $38,000, according to Gregory Poole.
An electric bus is a more expensive upfront investment; data from 2018 prices a new electric bus around $290,000. However, electric buses have fewer moving parts resulting in less maintenance over time, according to Gregory Poole.
What makes the bus ‘magic?’
Electric school buses are becoming more widely accepted, reaching 1% of all school bus sales in 2019, according to the EPA.
The transition to electric school buses will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing the number of diesel-fueled engines on the streets, proponents say. If half of all school buses in the country switched from diesel to electric, about 2.1 million tons of carbon dioxide could be reduced annually, according to the EPA.
Not only do electric school buses reduce emissions, they can also provide a renewable source of energy for Texas communities.
The clean buses can transmit electricity back to the grid, helping communities that suffer from power outages. Utilizing bidirectional batteries, or batteries that allow energy to pass in and out, buses can store surplus energy and return the energy to the grid in times of need.
“As vehicle to grid technology matures and with proper planning, school buses could be used to keep the lights on in buildings during power outages,” Robledo said. “They can provide power to emergency shelters or meet other needs during extreme weather events.”
However, the adoption of electric fleets may bring new challenges.
“It’s new technology,” Hodges said. “Not only are you learning about the electric bus, but you are learning about the infrastructure needed to charge that bus.”
Regardless, DFW leaders are hopeful that North Texas school districts can lead the charge by electrifying their fleets.
“I highly encourage Texas school districts to apply for funding for these buses,” Allred said in a press release.
Editor’s note: The story was updated on Aug. 9, 2022, to include Fort Worth ISD’s status on the priority list for the Clean School Bus Program.
Izzy Acheson is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at izzy.acheson@fortworthreport.org
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