Electrifying Our Ride to School
By Grace, AHS Senior and WECAN intern
Now, more than 10% of all students in Andover Public Schools ride an electric school bus!
Trombly Motor Coach Services, based in Dracut, MA, provides transportation services to Andover Public Schools. Beacon Mobility, Trombly’s parent company, serves school districts in twenty states and operates a fleet of over 10,000 school buses. Almost all of those buses run on diesel fuel and average six miles per gallon. Thanks to a grant from the federal government, Beacon this year introduced ten new electric school buses to its fleet, and five of those buses now carry Andover students to and from school.
The Town of Andover pursued the electric bus opportunity and qualified for the pilot because Trombly’s Dracut terminal already had sufficient electrical service capacity to support the charging infrastructure required for the new buses. Each electric bus cost approximately $350,000, more than three times the cost of a conventional diesel bus, and each charging station is an additional investment of sixty thousand dollars. However, there is no incremental cost to Andover Public Schools for implementing its electric buses; the federal grant offset any increase in transportation cost due to the conversion which allowed Trombly to provide the new buses to Andover at the same rate as the older diesel buses. The electric buses have a range of 138 miles on a full charge.
In addition to eliminating carbon emissions, students and drivers love the new electric buses because they’re quiet, there’s no smell of diesel exhaust, they don’t vibrate, and the regenerative braking makes the buses more responsive and easier to maneuver and stop. According to Tim Sheehan, Senior Vice President of Operations at Trombly, student safety is their highest priority.
“We thoroughly tested the buses in a variety of road and weather conditions, trained our drivers to operate the new buses, and we’re confident that they are safer and more comfortable for our students and drivers,” he noted.
The new electric buses also include collision avoidance and backup cameras, new features for school buses.
Another advantage to the electric buses is that the batteries serve as an additional power reserve, and if necessary, can return electricity back to the grid. For example, in the summer when there’s peak-demand for electricity and the buses are not in service, their batteries can be used to temporarily store power during off-peak periods, and then return that energy back to the grid during periods of peak-demand.
The challenge to deploying the electric buses was in the planning and coordination to build out the charging stations even though Trombly’s terminal already had sufficient supply of electricity to support the new buses. The electric buses are easier to manage and maintain, and should provide better reliability with fewer service interruptions than the older diesel buses. Tim Sheehan also anticipates that recruiting and retaining drivers will be easier with the new eclectic buses since the driving experience is so much better.
Dr. Parvey, Superintendent of Andover Public Schools, praised the new buses, adding “We are very proud to lead the conversion to a safer, carbon-free transportation system which will benefit not only our students and families but also the Andover community and our partners at Trombly too. As we plan and work to create a zero-emission future, this is a significant step toward achieving our goal.”
