The Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus Program has awarded more than $23 million to New Orleans area transportation companies, which will be used to replace more than 70 school buses.
New Orleans Science and Math Charter High School, or Sci High, was among the schools awarded a recent EPA grant and is likely the first in the New Orleans area to convert their full fleet to electric, said Sci High principal Monique Cola.
"It aligns with our mission," Cola said. "As a STEM school we're always talking to our students and helping them understand our impact on the globe and how what we do effects our future."
FUNDS FOR CLEAN BUSES
The EPA's Clean School Bus Program has pledged to award $5 billion over five years to U.S. school districts and transportation companies to replace traditional diesel buses with zero- and low-emission buses. The alternatives are powered with methods that produce lower tailpipe emissions than diesel engines, including electric, propane and compressed natural gas.
The push to electrify the most polluting vehicles comes as health experts have linked inhaling excessive amounts of diesel exhaust to health issues including asthma. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, and other health agencies have classified diesel exhaust as a likely carcinogen.
NEW ORLEANS AREA AWARDS
In New Orleans' complex school system, most charter schools contract with transportation companies to bring students to and from school. The bulk of the grants were awarded through First Student or A&S Transportation.
Anna Lam, a spokesperson for National Express, which is a subsidiary of A&S Transportation, said the company will use $3.1 million to electrify the nine buses that exclusively serve Sci High students. They work with Highland Fleets, a company that sources electric buses and chargers and helps districts install chargers, update software, maintain buses and train drivers to use the new technology, according to a spokesperson for the company.
In a previous round of funding, A&S Transportation got $8.32 million, which will be used to replace six buses for Eleanor McMain Secondary School, six buses for Andrew H. Wilson Charter School, six buses for McDonogh 35 Senior High School, six buses at Pierre A. Capdau School and eight buses at Warren Easton High School.
Lam said National Express is in the "early stages" of the project, including planning charging infrastructure, and that it could take 12 to 18 months to complete. They hope to have the electric vehicles in place by 2026.
First Student, the largest operator in North America, was awarded $1.895 million to replace five buses at Collegiate's Rosenwald Academy and $1.975 million to replace five buses at Collegiate's Livingston Academy, Kevin Matthews, head of electrification at First Student.
The transportation group also received $1 million for three electric buses at KIPP East, $1.4 million for four electric buses at KIPP Central City and $5.925 million for 15 buses in Jefferson Parish.
In the first round of funding in 2022, Crescent City Schools and First Student were awarded $1.9 million to replace five of their buses at Harriet Tubman Charter School, but the group declined the funding.
First Student has worked with the EPA to combine the funds to create a single design plan for the buses and chargers. Matthews said schools who received first-round funding will likely start getting EV buses next summer and those that received funding later would get the buses next fall.
First Student already operates 370 electric buses across North America, Matthews said, and 1,800 others are in the works, including those in Louisiana.
"These aren't science experiments for us," Matthews said. "This is the future of the industry and the future is here today."
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