When drivers weigh the pros and cons of switching to an electric vehicle (EV), “range anxiety” is likely atop the “cons” list. The dread of an EV running out of charge before reaching a destination (with no EV charging station in sight) is enough to make a lot of drivers hold on to their gas-powered cars forever.
If drivers are that concerned about range for their personal vehicles, consider how worried someone driving a commercial vehicle would be about losing power while on route somewhere—especially school bus drivers. They’re responsible for getting children either to school on time or back home safely. Getting stranded without a charging source is not an option—and it’s why many school bus drivers would prefer to stick with their traditional vehicles.
In fact, until recently school bus drivers’ concerns about electric buses were valid, according to Secure Solar Futures. School buses’ batteries weren’t big enough for the vehicle to complete its route on electric power without stopping to recharge. Given the tight schedule school bus drivers are on, especially in the morning, a mid-route stop to power up was not practical.
Within the last five years however, EV batteries have become more powerful — and less expensive. One EV bus did a test run in Indiana and set a record by driving more than 1,100 miles on a single charge in 2017. The successful test proved that EV battery technology is capable of meeting personal and commercial drivers’ range needs — perhaps more than a diesel or gasoline-powered vehicle.
That test was an exception rather than the rule, however — at least for now. Currently, the average EV school bus can travel approximately 100 miles on a full charge. That 100-mile coverage is within most buses’ battery systems’ capacity to cover most routes on one charge though, 90 percent of routes in fact, according to bus manufacturers. As EV battery capacity improves, electric buses should have enough range to cover just about every school bus route on one charge.
As range anxiety becomes less of a factor, more parents and students are requesting their schools to shift to all EV bus fleets, according to Secure Solar Futures. The request is partly due to the health benefits electric buses provide. Traditional diesel bus air can be up to 12 times more polluted than outside air, which can leave children and drives vulnerable to health ailments like asthma and cancer.
Meanwhile, transportation managers are also in favor of EV school buses because they’re less expensive to maintain than their diesel fueled counterparts. Electric buses have fewer parts that need regular maintenance. In fact, electric buses’ maintenance costs are 60 to 80 percent less than the other buses in the Twin Rivers Unified School District (north of Sacramento), according to transportation director Tim Shannon, who’s been operating more than two dozen electric buses since 2017.
Electric school buses with bi-directional charging — vehicles with batteries that can absorb power while charging and later send that energy out when needed through the same plug — can be used as “batteries on wheels” to store energy, according to Secure Solar Futures.
Such a capability can allow school districts to make money storing power from the electric grid when it’s less expensive, as buses sit idle during the summer months, and sell that power back to their utility when increased demand makes electricity more expensive. Schools could also use buses as a backup power source for their own campuses.
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