Boston, the capital of the US state of Massachusetts, intends to convert its more than 700 school buses to fully electric drives by 2030. The transition will begin this year with a pilot project in which 20 diesel school buses will be replaced with electric ones.
The conversion of the school bus fleet is just part of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s “Green New Deal”. It was already known that the city’s fleet of 1,200 vehicles was to be converted to emission-free drives – this figure did not include school buses and public safety vehicles.
“Traffic is the second highest source of emissions in our city and the first, highest source of emissions when you look at the state,” says Wu. “Electric vehicles will help reduce emissions throughout Boston.” In addition to the $7 million, 20-vehicle pilot, the mayor announced that EV maintenance will also be part of the curriculum at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School should be.
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The city’s announcement does not state how expensive the entire changeover will be by 2030. The school bus operator Boston Public Schools (BPS) should work in the longer term to “replace more large buses every year and then replace smaller buses until the entire fleet is electrified”. However, there are still no specific tenders with requirements.
BPS currently operates 739 school buses, which are responsible for 11 percent of the city’s carbon emissions, according to the release. Since 2016, BPS has replaced some diesel buses with propane-powered vehicles, purchased as an interim solution.
bostonherald.com, boston.gov