Due to higher-than-expected costs, the Onteora School District will lease rather than purchase its electric buses. Leasing will spread out the cost and save on operating expenses, the district said.
A dearth of locations for charging infrastructure was also a reason for the change.
“We did reach out to the EPA to request a reduction in the buses because we thought it made sense to not bite off more than we could chew,” assistant superintendent Monica LaClair said at the September 12 school board meeting. “And then once we kind of get our feet wet, get to understand the process with, you know, with the eleven buses, then as we move forward with the mandate of all of our buses being electric, then we’ll have to add another 25 to 30 to those eleven.”
The state has mandated all school buses be electric by 2035.
“One of the challenges that we found along the way is there’s a pretty big delta between what the grant covers and what the district would have to pay out-of-pocket,” said Greg Royer, sustainability practice manager with CPL, the district’s architecture consultant. “So we started exploring options, and looking for ways that the district wouldn’t have to go back out to vote on another project to cover the cost of the delta between the EPA grant.”
CPL brought in Highland Electric Fleets, which specializes in leasing fleets to districts.
“We are a company that specializes in assisting districts and school-bus contractors with deploying electric school buses in their fleets. We are currently active in over 30 states across the country plus a few provinces in Canada,” said a Highland Electric Fleets business manager. “We were the first company in the United States to effectively have a vehicle-to-grid project that was commercially viable. We are currently operating the largest electric school-bus project in Montgomery County, Maryland.”
Emily Parrish of Highland Electric Fleets’ solutions group explained the advantage of a phased-in approach for the district.
“You would have your normal contractor operations, where the contractor owns and operates and drives your diesel vehicles for one year, and then when the [electric] buses are deployed in the summer of 2025, we’re then suggesting your contract will go into this kind of split-staffing model, where the transportation contractor still owns and operates your diesel buses, but they only drive your buses, and Highland provides the buses and our services and equipment.”
Last fall, the district received an $8.3-million Environmental Protection Agency grant for the purchase of 21 electric buses and the installation of charging infrastructure. The district had faced a September 15 deadline to supply a purchase order for the equipment, but had been granted an extension.
The district will soon approve a contract with Highland Electric, which will be responsible for maintenance of the electric fleet.
“This is the first of its kind, but in conversations that we’ve had with state education facilities planning and transportation department we have actually discussed this structure. They would view it similar to an energy-performance contract, which the district is currently under contract,” said Royer. “You’re leasing this over a longer period of time, rather than paying for everything up front, going out to your tax base, you know, asking them to raise taxes to pay for this.”
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