By Michelle Baker
Washoe County School District welcomed two new electric school buses to its fleet as the world moves toward a more reliance on electric-powered vehicles. The grant-funded pilot program has been testing the buses since July and premiered the two electric buses at Corbett Elementary School and Wooster High School on October 10.
Passed in 2019, a state law allows public schools to use funds from the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Demonstration program to cover up to 75 percent of the upfront costs of purchasing electric buses and implementing charging stations.
The district received funds from NV Energy and the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection and aims to accomplish energy and sustainability initiatives outlined in their proposals. According to the school district, a grant of $870,000 was received from NV Energy to purchase the electric buses and charging stations. The district also received a grant of $311,626 from the state and Volkswagen for the electric bus project.
Two charging stations offer fast and slow charging capabilities for the school buses. The chargers are equipped with vehicle-to-grid technology, also known as V2G, that allows energy from the battery of an electric vehicle to be pushed back into the power grid, although they aren’t set up to do so.
The buses, powered by two sets of batteries, expend an average of 85-105 miles per charge, but several factors play into that range—temperature, weight and driving style. The regenerative braking system, standard in electric vehicles, allows the batteries to charge themselves when the driver takes their foot off the gas pedal, adding to the car’s efficiency.
Carson City and Clark County school districts are also recipients of similar initiatives from NV Energy in the state. Marie Steele, a vice president at NV Energy, said she looks forward to the promise of alternative, greener resources.
“We’re really excited to learn together for the betterment of the environment,” she said, “We’re excited for the ability to, quite frankly, move our transportation field to renewable energy.”
