EPA rebate helps Perry County school district add electric buses to fleet
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Perry Central Community Schools Corp. is one of nine Indiana school districts receiving $11 million in rebates from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program, an initiative that aims to accelerate the replacement of existing school buses with zero emission vehicles.
The district is using $690,000 in EPA funding and nearly $235,000 from its operations fund to buy two electric school buses and a charger. The new school buses—which are expected to arrive in early 2025—will be added to routes while two diesel buses will be phased out.
“It was an easy decision for us because we have some older buses in our fleet, some of which are near the end of their life cycles,” said Mike Bishop, Perry Central’s transportation director. “Buses are a big expense, so this was a windfall for us.”
Since the Clean School Bus Program started in 2022, more than 1,300 school districts nationwide have received nearly $2.8 billion to replace about 9,000 buses.
This year’s other Indiana rebate recipients include Steel City Academy, North Central Parke Community School Corp., White River Valley School District, Monroe County Community School Corp., Crawfordsville Community Schools, Goshen Community Schools, Greater Clark County Schools and MSD Washington Township in Indianapolis.
“We are transforming the nation’s school bus fleet to better protect our most precious cargo—our kids—saving school districts money, improving air quality and bolstering American manufacturing all at the same time,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a news release.
Rebate application
Mike Bishop said the school district learned about the Clean School Bus Program from Perry Central’s school bus supplier, Silver Lake-based Kerlin Bus Sales & Leasing. However, the corporation’s applications were denied during the first and second rounds of funding.
“We reluctantly applied again, thinking that we probably wouldn’t get considered. And lo and behold, we were awarded the grant the third time,” Mike Bishop said.
Applying for the EPA rebate was a way to improve the school bus fleet without placing a heavy burden on taxpayers or the corporation, according to superintendent Tara Bishop. She told Inside Indiana Business that Perry Central is a small school district with a limited tax base.
“There’s no way we would have ever been able to do that without this grant funding with an electric bus, because they’re extraordinarily expensive. So when we looked at the grant and saw it was an opportunity to basically get two electric buses for what one diesel bus would cost us, it was a financially prudent decision to look into it,” said Tara Bishop.
Priority applicants eligible for higher levels of funding include high-need school districts, low-income areas, certain rural school districts, Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded school districts and school districts receiving basic support payments for children who live on Indian land.
Perry Central’s buses pick up students throughout the county, including routes to and from Tell City and Cannelton which the electric buses will likely travel.
“We were one of the schools that was on the priority list because we’re rural,” Tara Bishop said. “A lot of our routes have gravel roads—and we don’t think that electric buses will be a viable option for that—but we have two or three routes that are only highway, so those are the ones that we are considering for these buses.”
Electric bus benefits
Accoding to the EPA, Perry Central’s electric school buses will reduce diesel air pollution linked to asthma and other health conditions and decrease greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change.
“The emissions are zero on an electric bus,” Mike Bishop said. “So when they’re sitting on the lot, we don’t have diesel exhaust to deal with.”
An electric school bus also requires less routine maintenance and fewer major repairs over its lifetime because it has fewer moving parts than a diesel school bus.
“We won’t have all the regular engine and after-treatment issues that we deal with on diesel buses. These newer diesel buses have an after-treatment on them where they use diesel exhaust fluid and they have [diesel particulate filters] and different things that will help clean the emissions of a diesel bus before it puts it into the atmosphere. So all of that goes away,” said Mike Bishop.
In addition, the electric school buses will cut down on fuel consumption and provide other cost-saving measures.
“It all comes back to the finances. It reduces our overall cost to put buses on the road,” Mike Bishop said. “The buses also come with a 10-year battery and drive motor warranty. That was a bit of security as well in making the investment in them.”
‘Unchartered territory’
As part of the stipulations of the Clean School Bus Program, two of Perry Central’s diesel buses will no longer be on the roads once the electric buses are in operation.
“You have to destroy those buses. You can’t resell them,” Tara Bishop said. “You have to take them out of service altogether.”
“They have to be basically rendered useless,” added Mike Bishop.
When it come to charging the electric school buses, plugging them in once a day may be enough to service the morning and afternoon routes. However, a midday charge may be needed if the buses will be used for athletic events in the evening.
“The dealer is telling us we will get about 140 miles to a charge, so time will tell when we put them in service and get them loaded. We’ll get a better handle on what their range is, but that should be able to handle the routes that we have now,” said Mike Bishop. “We’re going into some unchartered territory in terms of service and maintenance and all the things that come along with it.”
The next round of applications for the Clean School Bus Program is open through Jan. 9, 2025, with recipients being notified of their rebates in May. The EPA expects to award up to $965 million to place zero emission vehicles in school districts across the country in this next phase of funding.