Two of the eventual 30 buses sat in front of the audience at the Woodland Avenue maintenance yard. The rest will be delivered between the August start of the next school year and early 2023, Superintendent Sara Noguchi said.
The MCS board in January accepted $6.3 million from the state to cover part of the $13.8 million cost. The rest is general fund dollars freed up by coronavirus relief money.
This purchase from Blue Bell Bus Corp., based in Macon, Ga., will convert about half the MCS fleet from diesel engines. District officials are considering another application to the voucher program at the California Air Resources Board.
The purchase is part of a nationwide effort to shift transportation away from the carbon-based fuels behind climate change. Gov. Gavin Newsom seeks to end sales of new gasoline cars by 2035. Trucking, passenger rail and maybe even aviation could go electric, too.
All of that has prompted electrical utilities to plan for a future of much greater demand on their grids. They include the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. All three lent their expertise to a recent report on charging station needs for the Stanislaus Council of Governments.
The utilities also face mandates to generate much of the power from solar, wind and other climate-friendly sources. MCS will help with this by installing solar panels to charge its new buses. It plans to sell the excess to MID during times of low demand.
Drivers did not start up and move the electric buses on display Tuesday. But speakers did note that they will be much quieter than diesel, and easier on the lungs of Modesto residents.
"I want to celebrate with you this momentous day of Modesto City Schools' big leap into the zero-emissions future in California," state air board member Tania Pacheco-Werner told the gathering.
She is co-director at the Central Valley Health Policy Institute at Fresno State University. She also serves on the board of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.
Electric buses can cost two to three times as much as diesel, but MCS expects to have lower maintenance costs along with the fuel savings. It also is shifting to electric lawn mowers, hedge trimmers and other equipment.
Noguchi said the effort also could provide "job-shadowing" for students interested in engine repair, solar panels, batteries and other green technology.
©2022 The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
