North Carolina schools to receive 5 electric school buses

The pilot program will come as the state faces at least a $10 million shortfall in transportation funding for schools because of fast-rising diesel prices, said Kevin Harrison, operations division section chief at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

That’s been driven in part by conflict in Ukraine, and it could trickle down into county pocketbooks that may have to cover the fuel costs not covered by the state. Fuel prices especially impact rural counties with longer bus routes, Board Vice Chairman Alan Duncan said.

“And they are not communities that can just absorb the costs,” he said. Duncan plans to keep state lawmakers, who fund the transportation allotment, apprised of the budget situation.

The 72-seater electric buses will cost just more than $2 million, and the state will use grant funds from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

DEQ received nearly $100 million via the 2016 settlement between Volkswagen the United States Environmental Protection Agency over the company’s concealment of emissions violations.

As a part of the multi-billion dollar settlement, the EPA distributed funds to states. States then created their own plans, subject to EPA approval, for using the money on emission-reducing projects.

Many states have chosen to emphasize electric vehicles and infrastructure to support them.

North Carolina allocated $12.3 million for school bus replacement, 5% of which would be for all-electric vehicles, for the first of two planning phases for using the money.

Five counties applied for a bus in the first round, and each will receive one bus: Transylvania, New Hanover, Randolph, Rowan and Cabarrus.

DEQ plans $27.2 million more investment in reducing emissions from school buses as a part of the second phase of its plan.

The State Board of Education approved contracts for just a small amount of that Thursday.

A $1.2 million contract with Carolina Thomas will buy three electric school buses, and an $853,469 contract with White’s International Trucks for two school buses.

Harrison said he expects federal grant funds meant to build up electric vehicle infrastructure — such as charging stations — will push more schools toward electric buses. While electric buses currently cost about $420,000 for the bus and the charging equipment, the same size diesel-fueled bus costs only $100,000, Harrison said. But the cost of diesel over time may not make them cheaper in the long-run, which Harrison thinks schools will realize.

“I don’t see a wholesale shift, because we’d have to come up with a whole lot of money” to start, Harrison said.

About 12% of state transportation funding for schools goes toward diesel, and the state has only factored in a cost of $2.30 per gallon. That’s lower than the current price above $3 per gallon, Harrison said.

“There’s a lot of concern expressed from the field about that,” Duncan said.

Without an adjustment from the state, which could include taking from an underspent allotment, counties would have to foot the cost of gas the state won’t pay for.