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I live on the street in Silver Creek that is the main route for school buses leaving and returning to Silver Creek Central. In the morning I am awakened from my slumbers as they descend or ascend the hill heading to or from their routes. Their comings and goings throughout the day serves almost as a clock.
However, now it appears that the roar of their diesel engines will be replaced by the nearly silent "whooshing" of electrically powered school buses as New York state continues its headlong rush into the age of total dependence on untried clean renewable energy. Gov. Kathy Hochul has established a goal of making all new school bus purchases zero emission vehicles by 2027 with all school buses being zero emissions by 2035.
After reading about that and the fact that several area schools are investigating electrically powered buses, I realized that I had to investigate this issue more myself. I wondered how much more electrically powered buses would cost than conventional buses, what would be the additional costs of charging stations and other supporting infrastructure, and are there alternatives to electrically powered school buses.
With 50,000 school buses, New York has about 10% of the national fleet. Because electrically powered buses cost from $150,000 to $275,000 more than diesel buses and infrastructure upgrades cost from $10,000 to $30,000 the total cost of converting the entire New York fleet to electric would be between $8 billion and $15.25 billion. Because outside funding sources add up to less than $800 million there is a problem.
Though some wishful thinkers say that future costs of electric school buses will be lower, spokesmen for the industry point out that the reduction is based on a projected reduction in battery cost and the achievement of efficiencies of scale in component production. However, the CEO of Rivan, a maker of a variety of electric vehicles recently, said that "all the world's battery production combined represents under 10 percent of what we will need in 10 years ... meaning 90 to 95 percent of the supply chain does not exist."
Electrically powered school buses do have several advantages over diesel powered buses in that they require less maintenance than diesel engines. No tune ups are necessary, and they have fewer moving parts and do not require oil or brake fluid, or spark plugs and drive belts. Further the state of Vermont has found that in some cases electric buses are cheaper to operate if they are plugged into chargers during non-peak hours.
However, replacing batteries in electric school buses is more expensive than replacing a diesel engine and need replacement more often. When replacement is necessary a new diesel engine costs from $4,500 to $13,500 compared to a replacement battery that costs $50,000.
Vermont has also found that electrically powered buses can lose from 30% to 80% of their range in winter and that some electric buses failed to perform at all in frigid temperatures. Apparently in cold weather a lithium-ion battery does not lose its charge but not as much energy can be pulled from the battery. Other sources say that hilly terrain like we have in Chautauqua County also tends to reduce range.
In converting to electrically powered buses school boards and ultimately the State of New York will likely have to consider whether the additional cost of converting to battery power is worth the impact it may have on academic achievement caused by not being able to hire more teachers, or the inability to acquire up to date computers and new programming. In the future schools will have to consider bus range when planning field trips and travel by athletic teams, something that was never a consideration with diesel powered buses.
What concerns me most about replacing diesel powered buses is that little or no consideration has been given to alternatives. Why I wonder has so little consideration been given to new or retrofitted diesel buses with engines that burn far cleaner with less particulate matter than engines built a few years ago. Consideration should also be given to fuels like propane, compressed natural gas, hydrogen and biodiesel all of which can be used in conventional engines with little modification necessary.
Based on what I have read it seems that the governor and others need to take a closer look at how we achieve the goal of nonpolluting school buses. Electric power seems good but if that is the only path considered to achieve the goal, we may be advancing down a road that proves a dead end.
Thomas Kirkpatrick is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com