Shaker Heights City Schools and the city of Mentor will be expanding their school bus fleets with the addition of new, all-electric school buses.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency awarded the Shaker Heights City Schools $596,144 in grant funding to purchase two additional electric buses. The new EV buses will bring the district’s total to three.
The city’s focus on carbon reduction motivated the school district to consider electric vehicles, Jeff Grosse, chief operating officer for Shaker Heights City Schools, said.
“We thought that … would also be a great area to help reduce the diesel emissions from that,” he said. “Once we received the first one, it's kind of hard to go back and say, ‘OK, we got an electric bus, now we're going to go back to diesel.’”
The Ohio EPA also awarded the city of Mentor more than $329,000 to help fund a new electric school bus that will replace two 1996 and 2005 diesel school buses.
The grants are part of a $3 million dollar effort by the Ohio EPA to support a transition from diesel school buses and cargo handling equipment to EV’s in the state.
The funding comes from a federal settlement with Volkswagen over the company’s rigging of sensors in diesel vehicles to only activate emissions controls during regulatory testing.
“Every little bit helps when it comes to improving air quality,” Ohio EPA Director Anne Vogel said in the news release. “It’s exciting to know that these grants fund projects that will reduce the amount of pollutants released into the air.”
Shaker Heights City Schools became one of the first public school districts in the state to embrace electric buses in the state after purchasing its first electric school bus with OEPA grant funding last year, Grosse said.
The school district is able to save money on the maintenance of EV school buses, Grosse said, since they don’t require oil changes and other engine upkeep. Maintenance workers and bus drivers receive training and certification prior to operating or working with the electric buses.
The school district plans to add more electric school buses to its fleet as long as there’s funding for it, Grosse said.
Electric buses can cost as much as three times the amount of a diesel bus, Grosse said, so grant funding makes electric vehicles more attainable for school districts.
“If the grants aren't there, then a lot of districts will say we can't afford to do that,” he said. “You know, we can buy three school buses for what it costs us to buy one electric bus. So, I think it really has to be a priority in the city and in the school district to be able to, you know, spend that kind of money for electric buses.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently accepting applications for a federal clean school bus rebate program, with plans to select awardees in April.
The Ohio EPA also awarded Dutch Maid Logistics, Inc., Exel Inc. dba DHL Supply Chain (USA), KWA Inc. Ltd., Metalico Akron Inc., and Ruan Transport Corporation in Cuyahoga, Portage, Trumbull, Lucas and Summit counties with grant funding to purchase new, all-electric equipment.
