A zero-emissions, all-electric school bus is now prowling the roads of California’s Kings Canyon Unified School District. This is the first all-electric school bus to be activated by a school district in the United States. The all-electric school bus has a range that runs between 80 and 100 miles. Based on a Ford E-Series chassis, the all-electric school bus can carry 25 students.
The annual savings are targeted primarily at gas costs, although other types on maintenance can be taken into account as the all-electric school bus would be easy to service. It’s estimated that the Kings Canyon Unified School District will save up to $16,000 in annual fuel costs.
Electric buses will be more expensive to build than their internal-combustion brethren for quite some time, but there are some immediate benefits to an all-electric school bus:
- Smaller carbon footprint
- Less noxious fumes (especially while idling)
- Quieter in residential neighborhoods
- Easier to service
- Future packaging of all-electric school buses could lead to an easier to drive vehicle
- Cheaper to maintain
- Buses could be recharged by the school(s) they service rather than using gas stations
Granted, many of these possibilities are a ways out – but it does pose an intriguing glimpse at a (possible) future of transport.
First thing’s first; let’s see how this first all-electric school bus does.
Speaking of good candidates for school bus conversions…
