COLUMBIA, S.C. — One hundred and forty-eight electric school buses are coming to South Carolina, thanks to $59 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The South Carolina Department of Education was awarded more zero-emission electric buses and funding than any other public entity in the nation on Wednesday.
Fairfield County School District Superintendent, Dr. J.R. Green, said the district is getting $3.1 million dollars to purchase eight new electric buses, which it will add to what he called an 'aging fleet'.
"We're interested to see how that impacts our fuel costs, how it impacts the environment," said Green.
According to the manufacturer, Thomas Built Buses, they save $2,000 a year in fuel and $4,000 a year in maintenance costs.
School districts identified as priority areas serving low-income, rural, and, or Tribal students make up 99% of the projects that were selected. More applications are under review, and the agency plans to select more to reach the full $965 million in the coming weeks.
"In a place like Fairfield, an extremely large number of students ride buses and you’ll see lots of buses on the road and so were excited to have some new buses," said Green.
South Carolina Electric Cooperative Vice president of business and technology strategies Mike Smith said the buses emit zero emissions, are completely silent, can travel about 150 miles on a single charge, and have a 15 year lifetime.
Smith said the buses are also capable of filling up a charge on another bus, or powering a building without a generator during a disaster when power goes out.
Smith said while electrifying the state's school bus fleet requires more grid capacity, South Carolina is prepared.
"The good news is, we have the energy to move it down the road," said Smith. "The challenge can be if its not charged at the right time that it causes trouble on our grid like if all the buses came home and charged on a warm day, that’s when people are also coming home, so."
EPA’s new Clean School Bus Program was established by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, enacted in November 2021, which provides $5 billion over five years to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and low-emission models.
SCDE and eligible districts will have the opportunity to apply for another $1 billion in funding for clean school buses in Fiscal Year 2023.
- Richland 01 -- $6,320,000
- Fairfield 01 -- $3,160,000
- Sumter 01 -- $4,740,000
- Orangeburg -- $6,320,000