New Bedford will be among the first in Massachusetts to adopt electric school buses as part of its fleet. The city has won two federal grants to acquire 24 electric buses.
New Bedford schools transportation director Jeffrey Tatro tells CAI the buses are expected for the next school year.
"We anticipate all of them being ready to go for the start of the 2024-25 school year. We're hoping to receive some in the district in May or June, but between the inspection process I don't feel they will be on the road for this school year.
Charging infrastructure for the new buses should be installed this spring.
"We anticipate our yard being ready sometime in May to June to have it finalized and ready to receive the electric buses," Tatro said.
With the arrival of the 24 buses about half of New Bedford's fleet will be electric.
Tatro was not able to estimate how much money might be saved by adding electric buses to the fleet, but he said the reduction in carbon emissions will be significant.
"It's hard to say exactly what the cost savings will be between the diesel fuel and electric since this is a new process for us. We do anticipate a savings, but I couldn't give you an estimate of what the savings will be," he said.
Through the Accelerating Clean Transportation (ACT) School Bus program, New Bedford, Fall River and Worcester will share about $14 million in grant funds for electric buses. Boston will get $20 million.
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) website says, "the ACT School Bus supports electric school bus deployment, leveraging other funding sources such as the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus Program."
MassCEC is a state economic development agency dedicated to accelerating the growth of the clean energy sector across Massachusetts.
In New Bedford, Tatro welcomed the financial support.
"This is a great opportunity supported by the federal government and our local vendors and we are looking forward to being on the forefront of the state of rolling our these electric buses to help the community be healthier and more carbon-neutral," he said.
