What’s Happening: Blue Bird Corporation, an industry leader in electric and low-emission school buses, is delivering 60 electric school buses to Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) in Florida, marking the company’s largest electric school bus fleet purchase to date.
Why It Matters: This shift toward zero-emission vehicles for BCPS, facilitated through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Electric School Bus Project, signifies a significant move towards more sustainable transportation in the educational sector. The BCPS, with a bus fleet of more than 1,200 vehicles, is one of the first school districts in South Florida to initiate such a change.
Key Points:
- Blue Bird is providing BCPS with its most technologically advanced Vision electric school buses, each capable of transporting 72 students for up to 120 miles on a single charge. The charging time varies between three and eight hours, depending on the infrastructure.
- BCPS received a nearly $15 million grant from Florida’s Diesel Emissions Mitigation Program, funded by the Volkswagen Settlement and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act. The funds are designated for projects aimed at reducing diesel emissions from mobile sources.
- Florida Power & Light Company, the state’s largest power utility, is providing the necessary vehicle charging infrastructure to support the new electric bus fleet.
- Blue Bird’s electric buses come with a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capability, enabling BCPS to work with local utility companies to manage vehicle charging and feed stored energy back to the grid as required. This not only improves grid resiliency but also lowers the overall cost of electric school bus fleets for school districts.
Bottom Line: The provision of 60 electric buses by Blue Bird Corporation to BCPS represents a substantial move towards cleaner, more sustainable transportation for the school district. The project, made possible through collaborative efforts and significant funding, also sets a precedent for other school districts across the nation to transition toward more eco-friendly transportation options. With nearly 1,000 electric-powered, zero-emission school buses in operation today, Blue Bird continues to position itself as a leader in clean transportation.
