Recently, Newton’s Electric Vehicle Task Force, in collaboration with Green Newton, researched the possibility of applying for a federal grant to bring electric school buses to Newton Public Schools (NPS). Unfortunately, a combination of logistical and administrative hurdles ultimately made their attempt unsuccessful.
The federal grant, which was created by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, made $965 million available for school systems to fund the purchase of EV school buses as the 4th phase of a $5 billion program.
Initially, members of the EV Task Force proposed a pilot program with two electric school buses to show that EVs are capable of managing NPS’s bus routes.
Currently, Newton contracts with Eastern Bus Company to provide approximately 50 buses. The contract between NPS and Eastern has a provision that 10% of the bus fleet, or about five buses, could be electric. However, as the application process unfolded, the question of who actually owns the buses became a challenge. Because Newton contracts the school bus transportation services with Eastern, it was unclear who would be responsible for acquiring and maintaining the EVs part way through the contract period.
In an email response to the proposal from the task force, NPS’s Superintendent, Anna Nolin, wrote that although she sees the value of electric school buses, the head of the Eastern Bus Company raised issues that made them unwilling to replace any diesel buses with EVs at this time, “Given his financial circumstances and the extreme increase in rent for the bus yard, he made it clear that he was not able to take this on, hence, we are not able to.” Nolin also added, “There are so many academic issues in need of my team’s attention in NPS right now and that is what my committee has prioritized for our time.”
Why are electric buses so important for Newton? Not only do they benefit students’ health by eliminating combustion fumes, as a result of fewer CO2 emissions, they are better for the environment. Gasoline and diesel powered school buses have been proven to have detrimental effects on students’ health because of the various fumes that come from the engines.
“Electric vehicles and school buses also have less vibration, less noise, all sorts of other good things… but the immediate question is the pollution and the health hazards [to] not only the people around the bus in the area that they’re driving, but also the students on board,” according to George Kirby, technical advisor to the EV Task Force.
Electric buses would also be economically beneficial to Newton because of Vehicle-to-Grid technology. Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology allows energy from EV batteries to be sent back to the power grid during high demand periods when the buses are not in use, which enables EVs to act as cost-effective energy storage and reduces infrastructure investment needs.
“This power means economic benefit, but it also means societal benefit,” said Scott Rodman, a member of the EV task force.
While both Green Newton and the Newton EV Taskforce are hopeful that the city will acquire electric school buses in the future, they also acknowledge that it will probably be more challenging under the new Trump administration.
James Garrett is a sophomore at Newton South High School and a Green Newton intern.
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