BCSC to pilot all-electric school bus after receiving grant

Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. is one of four Indiana school districts selected to receive a $315,000 grant to purchase one all-electric school bus.

The grant comes from the Indiana Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Fund Committee, which met Tuesday and approved the first round of funding from the National Volkswagen Mitigation Trust. The grants fund transformative projects aimed at reducing diesel emissions and improving Indiana’s air quality.

Brett Boezeman, BCSC director of operations, said the corporation already had an interest in looking at alternative fuel school buses, specifically electric buses to reduce its carbon emissions and save fuel costs. Basic all-electric buses run for more than $300,000 whereas basic diesel buses run anywhere from $80,000 to $85,000 — a significant difference.

“Basically our biggest inhibitor of the process so far was the cost of these (electric) buses,” Boezeman said. “It’s new technology and they’re just very expensive. We also spec our buses with a lot of safety equipment — seatbelts, cameras, anti-collision, GPS — all those things add money to the bus.”

After BCSC learned about the money available from the Volkswagen settlement, district officials applied for a grant to fund one electric bus. Three districts in Monroe, Carroll and Hamilton counties also applied for a grant for all-electric buses.

For more, read the full story in Friday’s Republic.