The journey to fleet electrification is almost always a winding one — from technological bumps to financial offramps, the road is not always clear. For school districts, electric options can be as much as three times a new diesel bus and require investing in compatible charging infrastructure. While funding is available, navigating the incentive landscape and aligning public funding with district budgets and fleet turnover plans requires skilled coordination among multiple stakeholders.
To help address these issues and advance school bus fleet electrification, New York recently doubled the funding available to support public schools to transition to zero-emission school buses, adding $200 million to its New York School Bus Incentive Program (NYSBIP). While the program provides critical funding for buses and charging infrastructure, the state also wisely added funds for an often-overlooked piece of the zero-emission transition: fleet electrification plans (FEPs). These plans will provide school bus fleets with a roadmap to electrification and inform decisions about bus and charger purchases, engage essential stakeholders early, and identify and unlock federal, state and local funding incentives.
By funding FEPs, New York’s program enables fleets to develop an action plan for electrification that includes a comprehensive evaluation of existing fleet operations, an analysis of current site electrical capabilities, and a guide for electrifying the entire school bus by a target date. FEP’s will typically include:
- Electrification Goals – an overview of the electric bus assessment and the approach to fleet electrification.
- Route Analysis – analysis of the time and distance involved in each available bus route to support recommendations for minimum battery requirements and the total energy required to charge the batteries.
- Charging Strategy – development of a charging strategy that includes the number of needed chargers, power ratings, preferred charging times, and on- and off-peak demands.
- Utility Assessment – in coordination with the electric utility, analysis of the existing grid connection and additional electrical capacity required to meet the energy needs determined by the route analysis. Equipment needs, upgrades, and costs required to provide additional power, and the expected rates for charging buses will also be identified.
- Phasing Plan – a unified phasing plan for capital projects, vehicle replacements, and charger installations. This will include a schedule and transition cost estimate for utility upgrade/sitework, bus purchases, charger purchases, and operating costs.
- Funding Plan – identifies and schedules out federal, state and local funding opportunities for buses, chargers, and utility-side upgrades.
FEPs also enable relationship building with the external stakeholders critical to electrification: local utilities, bus dealers, engineers, and operators. Likewise, FEPs provide an opportunity for fleets to identify appropriate internal team members and workforce training needs to support electrification.
Developing an FEP is important for any school bus fleet, and critical for those in states with mandated school bus transition requirements. Including New York, seven states have so far mandated zero-emission school bus transitions: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, and Washington. Three more states, Colorado, Michigan and Washington D.C., have non-binding transition goals. FEPs will provide fleets in these states with a roadmap to compliance and help them identify and pursue available funding to meet state-mandated transition targets.
The first step for fleets interested in developing an FEP is to identify a qualified engineering consultant. New York’s NYSBIP can recommend pre-qualified consultants who can help develop a plan, and the program will fund up to 100% up the costs. Additionally, completing an FEP will unlock additional funding and vehicle caps for the NYSBIP program. By renewing its commitment to fund FEPs along with school buses and chargers, New York is setting its school bus fleets up for a successful journey to electrification.
TRC’s Clean Transportation Consulting team is a pre-qualified consultant with extensive experience developing fleet electrification plans for public and private fleets of all sizes. By combining its technical and engineering expertise with real-world experience, the team develops realistic and achievable roadmaps its clients can act on. Check out TRC’s Clean Fleet Planning services to learn more and start planning your electrification journey.
