North Country schools await more information
By Chloe Bennett
On a Monday evening in October, the superintendent of the Long Lake Central School drove a school bus more than 90 miles to transport soccer players from his own school and Indian Lake’s. The schools’ teams are combined and had games in Johnsburg and Minerva. That evening’s travel was not atypical, said Interim Superintendent David Snide.
Snide obtained his bus driver’s license before retiring as the superintendent of Indian Lake Central School District in 2022, knowing that there would be driver shortages. Long Lake has a fleet of about five buses, Snide said, and around 40 of the 60 students depend on them.
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Those loud, bumpy rides marked with the smell of diesel may soon be replaced by a quieter, less odorous alternative.
Beginning in 2027, school buses purchased in New York State must be zero-emission. The mandate is part of the state’s Electric School Bus Roadmap, the first of its kind in the U.S., which has $500 million in environmental bond act dollars allocated in this year’s state budget. A full transition from diesel to electric school buses is expected by 2035, according to the roadmap.
Applications for funding open at the end of November for school districts and third-party operators under contract with districts. The initial round of funding for the buses will be $100 million.
More than 2 million students ride school buses in New York, according to the World Resources Institute, including hundreds in the North Country. A report from Environment America and the Public Interest Network shows that diesel-powered buses produce 5.3 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, a number that could be slashed with electric buses.
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Particle pollution from the vehicles is also a concern, as children are exposed to fine particulate matter that can penetrate the lungs and contribute to respiratory issues.
However, the cost and viability of the vehicles remain potential obstacles.
A new electric bus costs between $200,000 and $410,000, depending on the type and manufacturer. Blue Bird, IC Bus, Lion Electric and Lightning eMotors are some of the suppliers noted in the roadmap. Using bond act money, the state intends to help purchasers with base vouchers starting at $114,000, a similar cost to a new diesel-powered bus. For a school district like Indian Lake’s, the expense could be immense.
“If I have to replace my entire fleet of buses, and let’s say the most expensive bus I have is $160,000, to replace everything with a bus that’s going to cost $400,000, that’s huge, that’s really significant to our budget,” Mellissa Mulvey, superintendent of Indian Lake Central School, said.
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Of the 125 students enrolled in Indian Lake, about 115 ride the bus, Mulvey said. Some are in the vehicles for up to an hour on their routes to school. For extracurriculars, students can be on the bus for around four hours, traveling up to Chazy and back for sporting events. Mulvey said she’s also concerned about the life of electric batteries in the North Country.
Winter nights in the Adirondacks can drop to well below zero, possibly affecting batteries like those powering electric buses. A report from the Environmental Protection Agency said school bus batteries operate most efficiently at 70 degrees, making temperature regulation a critical consideration.
Both Snide and Mulvey say the e-bus initiative could be beneficial for the state and hope to get more information ahead of the program’s deadlines.
“I think moving in this direction is not a bad idea,” Snide said. “Sometimes when you put the cart before the horse, it tends to create skepticism.”
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The Lake Placid Central School District briefly discussed the mandate during its Sept. 19 board meeting, saying that it could be more difficult to have electric buses in the North Country compared with the rest of the state. The board said the district may need to purchase a larger fleet in the future to accommodate the region’s climate.
Although the outlay for electric buses can be burdensome, the long-term operating costs could be less than for traditional buses. A report from the Rockefeller Institute of Government states that electric vehicles are more efficient than fossil fuel-based vehicles, as they convert 77% of electrical energy, compared to 12% to 30%.
During a series of 12 issue forums from the Rural Schools Association of New York State, Executive Director David Little said the electric school bus mandate was mentioned nearly every time. Charging the vehicles, implementing infrastructure and associated costs were the main concerns, he said.
Still, Little said he believes the transition is feasible.
“I really do think it’s attainable, whether it’s advisable to spend the kind of financial resources on electric buses when we have other severe educational needs in rural areas, that’s a legitimate policy question,” Little said.
“But, nobody argues with the fact that it would be helpful from both a health standpoint and at an environmental standpoint.”
Good luck in the winter, haha!
So you get grants to get started with these expensive E-Buses and you think you are saving gobs of $$ on fuel, maintenance (Engine & Transmissions – News flash, most buses are traded in due to Rust and safety not for mechanical) the only plus is emissions with better air quality… but this $400K bus is still going to rust out as quickly as a diesel powered bus and need regular replacements at inflated prices…. because the state is using liquid brine/salt on the roads so it chews up your brake lines, gas lines brake rotors and frames of autos/buses. State Forgots to mention the expensive batteries and safety concerns of charging them.
Spoke to a friend who works for a Ford dealership about their EV trucks. They expect the battery life to be 5-7 years. A new battery costs $17,000.00. I wonder how much a battery costs for the bus?
Meanwhile the CCP and India are creating hundreds of times the pollution of our present vehicles and will produce more making the battery components for this virtue signaling.
How can NYS dictate this? Next it will be your furnace and your stove and your fireplace etc .
Most rural roads have weight limits on bridges. I would love to know how much heavier is electric bus compared a combustible bus
Electric utilities can utilize the rechargeable, grid connected batteries to help with peak demands. The batteries can be charged overnight using off-peak power. When the buses are idle in the summer months or on weekends the utilities can draw power from them and offer financial help with power costs, charging infrastructure, etc.
Oh. boy, now there’s a pipe dream… lololol
Has anyone asked their local power company if they can support the draw?
I am in one of the largest by area and bus miles school districts in the state (the second largest I believe). We currently have a fleet of 30 gas/diesel busses. Our busses each travel hundreds of miles per day with many traveling more than 100 miles per run. we are approved to receive a grant to purchase 3 buses in 2024 as an “experiment”. No one in this northern NYS region complains about dirty air caused by school bus emissions (nor by anything else). The busses are expected to have a range of 130 miles per full battery charge (as stated by the manufacturer under “ideal” conditions).
On some days there are as many as three after school bus runs (regular after school, a “late” bus, and a later after sports bus run). We are told that it takes 6-8 hours to recharge the batteries. That is barely or not enough time to fully recharge during the hours of a school day. A bus that makes an early after school run therefore cannot turn around to make a later or sports run. So how many more busses do we need to purchase beyond the 30 we have now to account for recharge time? Throw in in efficiencies for our occasional -20F to -30F winter temperatures decreasing the expected “ideal” mileage range. Don’t forget battery power will have to provide comfortable cabin temperatures. Then what happens when a bus runs out of “fuel” on a remote back road? You can’t just drive a tanker of gas to refill it.
Our current large bus garage shelters busses closely packed next to each other like sardines, side by side. Everyone has heard of the horrific fires caused by E-vehicle batteries and how the fire is almost impossible to extinguish. What happens to all the busses in the garage when one initially catches fire?
We are told not to worry about the purchase price, as the state and/or the EPA grants will pay for more than 90% of the cost, not the local district taxpayers. Where in heck do you think the state or the EPA gets its funding from? With every school district in the state and eventually the nation under the same mandate, in the end we will all be paying full value for the $400K expense of each of these E-busses.
Besides, who actually believes that the mandated dates for us all to buy unwanted E-vehicles will remain standing once we get rid of the current administration?
How do people imagine that overnight will continue to be “off-peak” hours when we are going to be forced (what NYS does to people and businesses) to replace our natural gas appliances (furnace, clothes dryer, hot water heater and gas stoves) with electric units? Plus we will be forced to drive EV’s. “Off peak is expected to flip to daytime in cold months. IMO, we will need warming centers for when the grid goes down on cold nights. Albany is creating an energy crisis.
Wait till one bus spontaneously combusts and takes a whole fleet of busses with it all parked inside the same bus garage. Worse yet, while on this road with our kids on it.