GF schools pursue grant to help pay for electric buses

The Green Forest School District is hoping to take advantage of a grant that could lead to the purchase of electric buses at a greatly discounted price.

At its regular monthly meeting held Tuesday, Nov. 19, the Green Forest School Board heard an update on the district’s plans to apply for an Environmental Protection Agency grant that could potentially lead to the purchase of the buses, superintendent David Gilmore said.

“It’s kind of exciting,” Gilmore said. “I recently went over to the Alpena School District because they received four buses through an EPA grant that pays for a lot of the cost.”

Green Forest will work with Rush Truck Centers, which normally helps the district in purchasing buses, in developing the grant proposal. If approved, an electric bus and charging station installed would cost the district approximately $60,000, Gilmore said.

The regular price of an electric bus plus charging station is approximately $380,000, the superintendent said.

“The $60,000, which would be our part after the grant, is a good discount,” Gilmore said. “I priced a brand-new diesel bus and it was going to be $135,000 for the same specs that we normally get. So, we get a lot more than two to one for our money here.

“So, we’re trying to apply for that grant. … Hopefully we’ll be able to get that because that would help update our fleet by quite a bit. If we’re able to get four buses for the price of two, that’d be a good deal for us, obviously.”

The electric buses would be a normal-sized school bus with an electric motor and would be able to travel approximately 130 miles on a full charge, Gilmore said.

“All the data that’s been collected on them said it takes about half the electricity as it would to fuel it with diesel cost-wise, and then we’re saving a lot of money on the oil changes because you don’t have to change the oil,” he said. “The brakes last a lot longer because they have something called regenerative breaking … it actually starts charging the batteries when you let off the accelerator.

“I drove one of these buses and it was very well built. They say you can take it anywhere you want to take it basically, it’s just not really designed for long trips because you can go about 130 miles on a charge. So, we probably wouldn’t use one for an away game, things like that, but it’ll definitely meet our needs within the district for any of our routes.”

Batteries in the buses last approximately 10 to 12 years and have an eight-year warranty, Gilmore said.

“Most of the time that’s about all we’re probably going to get out of a bus anyway, the 10-year mark,” he said. “So, if I can get them for half the price on the front end, it’s going to save us more money and then a little less maintenance.

“To me, it seems like a winwin with those grants involved.”

Under the grant, for each electric bus received, the district would trade in an older diesel bus as a way to help decrease pollution, the superintendent explained.

NEW CLUBS

The board also approved adding two new clubs at the high school, Gilmore said.

“We have a group that’s been wanting to do a line dancing club, something they really enjoy, so we wanted to get that approved through the board,” he said.

A second new club, called “Involvement for All,” was also given the board’s OK.

“This club is a way for any student to be able to get together, no matter if you’re an athlete or whatever you do in the school,” Gilmore said. “It’s basically a community-based project. The kids get together at the same time … and talk about the project that they can go out and help in the community since community service is now a requirement in the state.

“We have a teacher who sponsors the club and helps guide them and makes sure they’re making good decisions and safe decisions when they’re picking those projects.”