By Tim Gardner
Avery County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Dan Brigman said that he wanted to clarify misinformation that Avery County Schools may still start using electric buses in lieu of diesel buses.
The High Country Press published an article on March 19 that included details that replacing diesel school buses with electric buses is not a possibility for Avery County Public Schools. Dr. Brigman maintains that article is “correct and accurate.”
Still, there have been comments on the Social Media Facebook site to the contrary. According to Dr. Brigman, the Avery County School System is “definitely not purchasing electric buses nor the charging stations to provide the needed electricity to operate those buses. It’s inaccurate for anyone to believe otherwise. Electric school buses are not practical for Avery County. Our school system has various priorities and electric buses is not one of them.”
There’s been speculation that some school systems in North Carolina could resort to using electric buses in the future if fuel prices don’t decrease further and increase at a consistent level in the future. But Avery County Schools Transportation Director Brian King added that electric buses are “absolutely not an option for Avery County Schools as neither the electric buses nor their changing stations could be afforded.”
King said the international average cost to buy just one electric-operated bus is $293,454.00 and an electric charger costs an average of $32,475.00. He added that the average cost to buy a diesel-operated bus in comparison is $99,108.00.
Dr. Brigman noted that the cost on an electric school bus can skyrocket to as much as $350,000.00 depending where it’s purchased. That’s more than three times the cost of a regular liquid fuel school bus.
Dr. Brigman said he briefly discussed electric school buses with the Avery County Board of Education members during a recent workshop meeting. He added that the State of North Carolina has indicated that one electric bus may be provided to school systems across the state free of charge if they would purchase an electric charging station. The funds to pay for those buses from the state comes from North Carolina’s multi-millions share of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s settlement with Volkswagen for being determined to have been unlawfully cheating on vehicle emissions.
Dr. Brigman said that Avery County Schools may instead request two high efficiency buses from the state, but he noted the request is likely to be turned down.
“Our system will still be using our fleet of diesel buses and again, it would be impractical and not economically possible for our school system to get electric buses,” Dr. Brigman concluded.