The local school board has overwhelmingly endorsed plans to enter a federal lottery for a rebate of up to $200,000 on the purchase of an electric school bus and charging station, citing children’s health and environmental concerns.
While Maine School Administrative District 75 officials noted that winning the lottery is a long shot, supporters said entering would send a positive message to the community and could result in a deep discount on what would be the district’s first electric school bus and charger.
However, some area residents and one school board member voiced opposition, citing concerns about the cost to taxpayers. They said even with the rebate, starting to transition the district’s bus fleet to electric vehicles would likely lead to tax increases that many locals can’t afford. MSAD 75 covers Harpswell, Topsham, Bowdoin and Bowdoinham.
Residents who spoke at two recent school board meetings were split roughly down the middle between those supporting and opposing the district’s plan to enter the lottery. A survey of more than 300 residents conducted by MSAD 75 produced similar results, with 38% against, 34% in favor, and 28% unsure.
The lottery is being administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program, which is offering $5 billion in grants and rebates over five years to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and low-emission models, according to the EPA’s website.
So far, the agency has awarded almost $2 billion to fund roughly 5,000 school bus replacements at more than 600 schools nationwide, it said. Schools in economically depressed and remote areas are eligible for the largest rebates.
The lottery program ends in 2026. The deadline for this year’s applications is Feb. 14, and winners will be notified in April.
Leaders of MSAD 75’s transportation team addressed the school board at two recent meetings, on Jan. 11 and 25, to explain the lottery program and answer questions. But one key question — the potential impact on the district’s transportation budget — is difficult to answer, they said.
It’s a complex calculation to determine how much using the rebate to buy an electric bus would cost the district versus buying another gasoline-powered bus without the rebate, district Transportation Director Katy DiCara explained to the school board at its Jan. 11 meeting.
The $200,000 rebate would only cover about half the cost of the bus and charging station, she said. An electric school bus averages about $350,000, and a charging station is $20,000 to $25,000 for a Level 2 charger or $60,000 for a Level 3 charger that can charge up to two buses in less than half the time.
For comparison, a gasoline-powered bus costs about $135,000, DiCara said. An electric bus would likely last about as long as a gasoline-powered one, roughly 10 to 12 years, district officials agreed after initially misstating that they only last five years.
There’s also the issue of range. An electric bus can go about 120 miles on one charge, which limits the routes it could be used on, because district buses usually make four trips per day. Cold weather can reduce that range by up to 33%. District staff said MSAD 75’s first electric bus, if it acquires one, would likely be used for shorter routes in Topsham.
Advantages to the electric bus include getting a jump-start on making the transition to an electric fleet, helping to reduce climate change, and sparing children from the noise and fumes of fossil fuel combustion, the latter of which can contribute to childhood asthma.
“There are very many pros and cons to this rebate program,” DiCara told the board. She noted that entering the lottery doesn’t commit the district to buying a bus if it wins, and that there would be time to work out the financial details later.
One area where electric buses tend to be less expensive than those running on fossil fuels is daily operation and maintenance, according to a recent case study by Blue Bird Corp., which manufactures both combustion engine and electric school buses. It said the West Grand School District in snowy Kremmling, Colorado, experienced “significant fuel and maintenance savings” with its first electric bus.
The average charging cost for the electric bus was 26 cents per mile, it said, versus diesel bus fuel costs of 58 cents per mile, which saved the district roughly 45%, or more than $3,600 in its first year. The electric bus required about $100 in maintenance costs, while its diesel counterpart cost about $1,900, it said.
MSAD 75’s existing bus fleet consists of 25 gasoline-powered buses and seven diesel-powered ones, DiCara said. The district has been phasing out diesel buses by replacing a few each year with gasoline-powered ones as they age out.
Several school board members expressed enthusiasm for entering the EPA lottery at the board’s Jan. 25 meeting, including River Khoriaty, of Topsham.
“I actually think it sends a positive signal that we’re not ones for procrastination, that we’re going to put all of (our) ducks in a row so that if we choose to do this, it’s something that we can do,” Khoriaty said.
Board member Frank Wright, of Harpswell, also voted in favor of entering the lottery despite reservations about the potential costs, as well as a local fire official’s contention that fires on electric buses are harder and more dangerous to put out.
“I have real concerns about making sure we can pay for it. I have real concerns about the safety for our emergency (responders),” Wright said. “But … I also have real concerns about my grandkids.”
Board member Brandy Robertson, of Bowdoin, said she objected to entering the lottery on fiscal grounds, especially given that the district would need to budget for the electric bus regardless of whether it’s ultimately purchased. Robertson was the only board member present at the Jan. 25 meeting to vote in opposition.
“My concern lies with the taxpayer, and we absolutely are not being fiscally responsible by saying that we’re going to work (up) a budget to put this bus in that we may or may not get,” she said.
Have a comment or news tip? Email J. Craig Anderson at craig@harpswellanchor.org.
