ALMA -- The School District is preparing to have eight electric buses transport students starting in the 2023-2024 school year.
Jason Rutherford, the district's transportation director, said the decision came from needing to replace buses from 1992 because replacement parts were getting hard to find.
Rutherford said while looking for solutions he found the district qualified for certain electric bus grant programs. He applied for a $3 million Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment's Division of Environmental Quality grant, which the district was awarded late last year.
Rutherford said diesel buses cost between $135,000 to $145,000 to purchase, and electric buses cost over $400,000. He said with the grant, the district paid roughly $35,000 for each electric bus, or $280,000 total.
The cost had the district paid for diesel buses would've been roughly $1.12 million, or $3.2 million to pay for the electric buses in full.
Rutherford said he anticipates the electric buses costing 40-50% less to operate than the current buses due to needing less maintenance and no diesel costs.
"We do have an expense with putting in a little bit of infrastructure, but we're fairly well set up over here to do that," Rutherford said. "OG&E is running in electric lines for us, the kind of power that we'll need to power each of these eight buses. We'll be covering a majority of the cost of taking it from where they bring it to and installing the different chargers. So there will be a small, one time cost for us, putting those chargers in."
The district has 25 bus routes transporting about 1,400 students. The longest bus route is about 89 miles.
Rutherford said the buses can travel about 100 miles between charges when using the HVAC system and 138 miles overall. He said which routes the electric buses will take has yet to be determined.
Rutherford said there are currently several electric bus manufacturers, but the district chose to purchase Thomas Built Buses because of a longstanding relationship with them.
"About three-quarters of our fleet are Thomas buses," Rutherford said. "What we're replacing are not Thomas buses. So one reason is we wanted to keep Thomas buses throughout for parts reasons, knowledge of the buses, all those sorts of things. Our mechanics know those buses. Second, there's a Thomas built dealer just in Van Buren, so we would have ready, ready access to them. We know that there will be issues, like any new technology, and we know that warranty issues, all those sorts of things, they're going to be right here with us."
Alma isn't the only Arkansas school preparing to add electric buses to its fleet. Mountain Home Public Schools also recently received a nearly $1.9 million grant to purchase five electric buses.
Timothy Toolan, general manager of Midwest Buses Arkansas, said Alma will be the first school district in the River Valley and possibly Arkansas to purchase electric vehicle school buses.
"We're working with the district to make sure it's a smooth transition to getting the first EV buses in the area," he said. "I think it's something that's the future for school buses. Electrification for school buses is going to be the way of the future for a lot of the districts."
Rutherford said he's excited for the students because the buses emit less carbon and are quieter, which he hopes will improve student behavior.
"In a bus what happens is all the kids are going to have to talk over the roar of the engine. That will be done away with," he said. "It's going to be so much quieter. I'm anticipating much less of the minor issues on the bus that a lot of kids get in trouble for, having to talk over the bus and talk over their friends. I'm expecting it to be just a better experience for our students."
Alma Assistant Superintendent Travis Biggs said the electric buses are another way the district is being eco-friendly, noting its buildings already conserve energy through water fountains and LED lighting. He said they've also considered going solar powered.
Biggs said the $3 million the district saved through the grant will be able to help students in other ways. He said that money hasn't been specifically allocated yet.
Biggs said the number one priority for the School District is that students be safe.
"The safety of the research that we did makes this a great, great thing for the Alma School District," he said. "We would not have accepted this grant if we thought it was unsafe for our students at all."