NORFOLK, Va. — Four school districts in Hampton Roads are rolling out new electric school buses. The buses will hit the roads, this year, as part of an initiative with Dominion Energy.
“Transportation is the number one source of carbon emissions in the country and it's solvable - it’s a solvable problem,” Dominion Energy spokesperson Bonita Billingsley Harris said.
“I think parents are going to be really excited about this. It’s definitely cleaner and safer for the kids. They’ll all be equipped with three-point seat belts – like the kind we have in our cars - with the strap that goes across your chest, not just the lap belts," Harris said.
According to Dominion, this is the nation’s largest election school bus deployment. Fifty buses are going to 16 districts across the state - including Chesapeake, Hampton, Virginia Beach, and Norfolk.
The new buses also have what Dominion calls “vehicle-to-grid technology." That means the buses also serve as giant batteries to store energy and inject it into the power grid, during high-demand hours.
"They’ll be charging stations with batteries," she said. "When they’re parked, they’ll be able to support the grid.”
Billingsley Harris said these new electric buses are up to 60 percent cheaper to operate and maintain, compared to diesel-run buses. But they are more expensive to buy, so Dominion will be picking up the tab for the difference in price.
“A traditional school bus cost about $100,000 to $120,000 and an electric school bus can cost three times that amount," Harris said. "Plus you also have to get the charging infrastructure to go with it.”
Norfolk Public Schools’ acting deputy superintendent of operations, John Hazelette said their district will be getting four buses, as part of the program.
“The first one will be here in August and they’ll be drifting in over the next few months, following that,” Hazelette said. “Obviously from an environmental standpoint, it’s huge. It’s new technology that’s improving.”
Another district, Virginia Beach City Schools is getting six buses, according to sustainability officer Tim Cole.
“Nobody really likes riding behind the old diesel buses that’s putting out that black smoke," he said. "If we can get away from that, it’s a win for everybody... We have a goal of reducing our transportation emissions by 50 percent by 2030 so this [the new electric buses] fits nicely into that.”
