Boston Public Schools has put the first batch of electric school buses into operation as part of its plan to switch its entire fleet of 750 school buses to fully electric.
The first 20 electric buses, supplied by the iconic yellow school bus maker Blue Bird, went into operation this week. In a statement Blue Bird says the pilot program is the first step to convert the entire Boston Public School fleet of 750 buses to fully electric by 2030.
School officials and local government leaders hailed the groundbreaking program as the largest electric school bus deployment in north east America.
Blue Bird Vision electric buses can carry a maximum of 71 students for up to 120 miles (193km) on a single charge.
The vehicles take approximately four hours to charge from 0% to 100% based on BPS’s Level III ICE 30 kW fast chargers installed at their Readville. The new zero-emission buses now transport over 2,500 students safely and reliably to and from 42 local-area schools every day.
“We are thrilled by this historic partnership. This pilot program is an important step in our work towards a fully electric fleet by 2030, as part of the Green New Deal for Boston Public Schools,” said Mary Skipper, Superintendent for Boston Public Schools.
“These buses are quieter, cleaner, and are an essential part of reducing BPS’ carbon footprint and creating a healthier city. Putting the needs of our young people first is central to our mission.
“Clean, reliable buses that get our students to school reliably, while also cutting down on pollutants in the air and reducing carbon emissions is an important step that we must take for the well-being of Boston’s young people and their future.
Jackie Hayes, Assistant Director of Contract Operations and Fleet for Boston Public Schools said students enjoy riding on the new electric buses.
“They love the quiet drive. We all love that our students, drivers and school staff are not being exposed to any exhaust fumes generated by traditional, diesel-powered buses. In addition, our bus drivers have had positive feedback about vehicle performance,” said Hayes.
“Our pilot program marks an important step toward the electrification of our entire school bus fleet by 2030 to significantly reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.”
Customers of the new Blue Bird electric buses reported an average cost of just $US0.14 per mile ($A0.13 per km) compared to previous diesel bus costs of $US0.49 per mile ($A0.46 per km) representing a 72% saving on cost per mile/km.
Last year the US government announced it would invest $US1 billion of funding to help 389 school districts clean up their bus fleets by going electric.
While the US races ahead on electrifying buses, Australia stuck in the slow lane
A recent report by The Australia Institute found that of the 100,000 buses operating in Australia, just 200 are electric representing just 0.2% of the nations fleet.
And that 0.2% is predominately “trials” for public transport buses in various states. To our knowledge there are currently no programs in Australia that are in the process of converting diesel school buses to electric.
More and more studies are showing the terrible health impacts of diesel particulate pollution on our society and on our kids.
A world-first study published in February showed that exposure to diesel exhaust pollution can dull human brains within hours.
Another study published last month showed that in addition to 12,000 cardiovascular hospitalisations, 66,000 active asthma cases, and almost 7,000 respiratory hospitalisations, petrol and diesel exhaust pollution could cause more than 11,000 premature deaths per year in Australia.
That’s about ten times more deaths than road accidents cause in Australia each year.
And it’s not just air pollution, another study of 240,000 people recently linked traffic noise to elevated hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
Another recent study shown that school attendance rates go up for students who take electric buses to school instead of diesel.
Australian state governments still purchasing diesel buses
Yesterday the West Australian government announced it was investing $125 million into purchasing 125 electric buses for the state’s public transport network.
Professor Ray Wills, from UWA and Future Smart Strategies says that since 2020, around 225 diesel buses have been delivered, with 126 more scheduled for delivery in 2022-23.
“In the same time Transperth only received 2 electric buses and ordered 2,” says Wills.
In 2020, WA's Transperth under @MarkMcGowanMP Government committed to buy 900 additional buses from Volvo
Since then, 225 diesel buses delivered,
with 126 more scheduled 2022/23🤯In the same time Transperth have also received 2 electric buses and ordered 2#Climatecrisis 🤯 https://t.co/LVsdGpTRme
— Prof Ray Wills👋 (@ProfRayWills) July 27, 2022
Will’s says of Perth’s 1469 buses only 46% meet the Euro 5/6 standard, which was in place from 2009 to 2014. Just one third meet Euro4 (2005), and only 20.5% meet the decades old Euro1-3 standard (1993-2000).
State governments have been quick to brag about electric bus trials but the fact of the matter is they’re still purchasing health wrecking diesel buses which ultimately drags out the transition time exposing more of us to harmful pollution for longer.
Daniel Bleakley is a clean technology researcher and advocate with a background in engineering and business. He has a strong interest in electric vehicles, renewable energy, manufacturing and public policy.