Two years after Galesburg District 205 was awarded a multi-million dollar grant to acquire nearly two dozen electric buses, the fleet is nearly complete.
Nineteen of the buses have now been delivered and the other four should arrived this week, according to representatives from First Student who addressed the school board on Monday. First Student is the largest student transportation provider in the country.
In addition to receiving one of the largest awards from the EPA’s Clean School Bus grant program, the district is now a national leader in implementing electric buses.
“Galesburg is our largest commissioning in the United States so far for First Student,” said Ami Parikh, who works in electrification for the company.
Parikh said that chargers have been installed, power has been connected, and training has been completed for drivers, technicians, first responders, and the towing company.
All that’s left is for the electric buses to be certified and inspected.
“The drivers are ready to go and we should be able to start rolling those out in service for schools,” Parikh said, noting that First Student may do some test runs without students during fall break, Oct. 14 through Oct. 18.
Per the grant guidelines, the district must get rid of a diesel bus for every new electric one.
“We asked the school district to apply for a short grant extension until January of 2025, to make sure that it's a smooth transition for the district and everything is operating fine before we start getting rid of the diesels from the fleet,” Parikh said.
Superintendent John Asplund said 23 of the district’s 40 buses will now be electric. The new electric buses will be used in town.
The district was awarded up to $9 million for the electric buses, but the EPA only reimburses for the actual cost. It came it under that – at around $20,000 less per bus.
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