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    Boston Public Schools to launch Bus Electrification program

    April 8, 2022
    The transition will be gradual, with 20 buses to be introduced in 2022-2023 school year
    Image credit Lion Bus
    Lion Bus1 62506d7240cb3

    Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced that Boston Public Schools is launching an electric school bus pilot program.

    The city will also grow its green jobs workforce with the launch of the EV ‘train the trainer’ program – a partnership between the Public Works Department and Madison Park Technical Vocational High School.

    Under the pilot, Boston Public Schools will initially deploy 20 electric buses in the 2022-2023 school year, replacing its diesel buses. The transition will be gradual, replacing additional big buses each year until the complete electrification of its fleet. The aim is to have a complete electric fleet by 2030. It has 739 buses at present, contributing 11% of the City’s municipal emissions.

    The Boston school district will use its operating budget and American Rescue Plan Act funds to deploy the first 20 buses over the next eight to ten months.

    The district will also launch a request for information to obtain inputs on electrification strategies and potential solutions to challenges to electrification.

    The city will also train students and fleet managers in electric vehicle maintenance through Madison Park’s Automotive Technology Program. The core curriculum of Madison Park’s Automotive Technology Program will soon include electric vehicle maintenance.

    The city is also installing EV charging stations across neighborhoods. It has installed 66 EV charging plugs and had announced plans to install another 15 in 2022 and early 2023. 

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.