West Aurora School District 129 is looking at adding some electric school buses to its fleet.
The proposal to bring in 27 electric buses to replace some older diesel models could be part of an ongoing effort in the district, officials said.
“We have done geothermal and solar – the next stop is school bus electrification,” West Aurora School District Assistant Superintendent Angie Smith said in a recent report to the school board.
“We have identified routes that are all 60 miles a day or less in total mileage, well within the 100 miles a battery gets on a full charge, even if there is some degradation in the winter,” she said.
The board has made no decision yet on electric buses.
The district has a fleet of 73 buses powered by diesel engines, half of which are under two-year leases due to expire at the end of the school year.
Until recent changes, electric buses have been cost prohibitive, Smith said.
Electric bus prices are almost three times the cost of a regular bus, and even with potential rebates and incentives, they would have likely been twice the cost of a diesel-fueled bus, she said.
Some changes have made the school district’s administration look closer at a proposal to make a switch to add some electric buses, including competitive pricing, federal funding and rebates, officials said.
For instance, Smith noted the district applied for and was awarded a $5.5 million grant through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program.
In a response to questions from The Beacon-News, Smith also pointed to “federal tax credits totaling over $1 million and ComEd incentives that we believe will be at least $380,000.”
“When all of those are stacked together, not only will electric buses be cheaper to operate, but they also cost less than gas buses for which we receive no incentives,” she said.
The administration has tentatively recommended that the board consider a partnership through Massachusetts-based Highland Electric Fleets concerning electric buses. Highland has “projects across the country” and has specialized knowledge in the field of electric buses, officials said.
“Without the funding, this is probably not what I would be recommending,” Smith told the board.
With incentives, electric buses would cost a net of $50,000 per bus, one third of the cost of a diesel-powered bus, she said.
“This is an opportunity to test EVs with little risk or significant investment of local dollars,” Smith said in her report.
If approved, 27 electric buses on the road for West Aurora School District for the 2025-26 school year would be the most for a public school district in the state, she believes.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
