Oakwood has added two new electric school buses to its transportation fleet.
“I applied for the grant a few years ago and we were not selected, but I tried again last year and we were able to get approved” said Superintendent Russell Holden. “I looked at this opportunity from a purely financial perspective and for what is best for our district. We had a need to replace two older school buses and this grant basically saved our school and tax payers from having to purchase those two buses.”
Holden said the buses were paid for with a $690,0000 EPA grant targeted for new electric school buses through the "Clean School Bus Project."
According to the Electric School bus Initiative, electric school buses have zero tailpipe emissions and improved fuel efficiency.
Holden said that while each of the new electric school buses cost approximately $350,000, Oakwood was able to utilize the grant to pay for $345,000 for each bus, leaving only $5,000 for the district to pay.
“It was really a no-brainer,” he said. A regular school bus would run somewhere around $130,000, and we only had to pay $5,000 for each of these. We are also expected to save about two thirds of the fueling cost for these buses when compared to the diesel cost.”
Holden said electric school buses do have limited range, so Oakwood plans to utilize its new electric school buses on their daily routes and not as trip buses.
The Texas Scorecard reports that electric buses have a range of up to 120 miles on a single charge, with recharging times that range from three to eight hours depending on the type of charger being used.
“They are really ideal for our daily routes to pick up kids,” Holden said. “The limited range fits within our daily needs and the eight-year warranty gave us a little more piece of mind with these new buses. So far they have worked out great and we could not be happier with them.”
Oakwood is the first school in the area to get approved for the EPA grant and utilize these new electric school buses.