Rural Missouri - April 2024 - 25

One of Cassville School District's five electric school buses departs school to take students home at the end of the day.
calmer in those buses. "
The buses are so quiet, they are designed to make
sound when they are traveling less than 23 mph in Cassville
and buses traveling less than 30 mph in Knox County
play the school song as a safety feature so those around
the bus know of its presence.
For both Cassville and Knox County, trading in the gas
pump for a charging cord came with a few bumps early on,
specifically with the charger ur first charger ust wasn't
the adeuate sie, ndy says hen that initial us was a
first-generation model and ust had a ew uirs, ut the
bus company and co-op have been great to work with. "
Having a charging strategy is an essential part of running
electric buses. In Knox County, the buses are plugged
in wheneer they're o the road hroughout the day,
they are programmed to take in about 10 amps of power,
enough to keep the battery compartments at 72 degrees,
helping extend the life of the batteries. Between 10 p.m.
and 6 a.m. - when less power is needed for the electric
grid - the input is throttled up to 80 amps ensuring the
uses will e ully charged in the morning n the winter,
we can also program them to start preheating 20 minutes
before the driver will leave for the route, " Andy says.
Keith says most buses on set routes - particularly
those in rural areas where electric co-ops serve - will
liely e electric in a ew decades t is simply a etter
technology, he says tudent transportation is a huge
line item in eery school's udget  electric uses achiee
purchase-price parity with diesel buses, which are also rising
in cost, electric buses will become standard. "
ll o assille's electric uses and a maority o no
ounty's were purchased through E's lean us rogram,
which funded the buses up to $345,000 and the
charging infrastructure. The program provides $5 billion
oer fie fiscal years n total,  mostly rural issouri
districts were awarded rebates for 57 electric buses in the
first round o unding and recently, seen more uran issouri
school districts were awarded grants for 320 buses.
assille wored with neary arry Electric ooperatie
before applying for the award and to dispatch enough electric
infrastructure to where the buses would be charged.
Knox County tracks their savings online, comparing
the cost to use their diesel to electric buses. As of January,
Knox County was reporting 22.5 cents per mile for
their electric buses and 61.7 cents per mile on diesel. That
equates to a savings of 39.2 cents per mile not including
maintenance such as oil changes  thin any school
district should loo at it and see the enefits, ndy says
iously the terrain and conditions will play a role in
what wors ut, with the programs out there you'd e
crazy not to take advantage of it if you can. "
For more information on Knox County's electric buses,
visit bit.ly/knoxbus. For more information on the Beneficial
Electrification League and their electric bus resources, visit
be-league.org/buses.
APRIL 2024 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP 25

http://bit.ly/knoxbus http://www.be-league.org/buses http://www.RURALMISSOURI.COOP

Rural Missouri - April 2024

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