Electric school buses are on the rise; See which Gulf Coast school district made the switch

GLADES COUNTY, Fla. —

Over the last 5 years, Martha Cook has driven nearly the same school bus route. She's watched nearly dozens of kids grow up over the years.

"My favorite thing is when I see my kids," Cook said. "I miss them."

Now, Cook is driving the same route but in a different bus. Across the country, electric school buses are on the rise and in 2024, the first fleet came to the Gulf Coast.

"Just a wonderful, wonderful fleet," Glades County School District Director of Administrative Services Dan Thomas said. "Very proud of it. Very happy to have it."

A quieter ride

Glades County School District made the switch to electric for 13 buses.

"When we first got them, the kids were excited and they’re still excited," Cook said.

"It's been fantastic," Thomas said. "The new buses have allowed us to replace older diesel buses that didn't have any air conditioning. They were aging our youngest bus. Our newest bus was built in 2010, so it was quite old. We're putting students now on buses that are cooler, quieter."

Health and air quality

The electric buses offer numerous benefits compared to diesel.

"The old, diesel, you know, what you might think of as a clunker, make a lot of air pollution that not only goes out into the communities but actually inside the school buses that kids are riding," University of Michigan Professor Dr. Adar said.

Diesel buses are also known to increase the risk for respiratory illnesses.

"They’re breathing in particles and gases that can damage their lungs, that can actually interfere with their education and sort of their brain function," Dr. Adar said.

The cost question

The catch is that electric buses tend to be more expensive than even newer diesel buses. A diesel bus runs 100-200,000 thousand dollars where an electric school bus can cost 300-400,000 thousand. While the initial costs can be 3 times as expensive, electric buses are often cheaper to operate long term.

"The EPA released grant money to do this," Thomas said. "It was an EV initiative, but this was a great area for them to do it in. And they granted us a significant sum of money that really helped us do this."

The good news is that newer diesel buses are actually pretty clean themselves as well, according to Dr. Adar.

"All of our research demonstrates that the worst buses out there are really the oldest buses so things that are less than 2007," Dr. Adar said. "Replacing those, be it with a cleaner new diesel or with a new electric, we believe has really strong benefits for children’s wellbeing and health."

More than transportation

"The drivers love it," Thomas said. "The one thing I hear from the drivers is that they're able to hear all the way to the back of the bus now, so that allows them to be safer and monitor the buses better."

Electric buses don’t just have health and environmental benefits. During hurricane season, these buses can double as mobile cooling centers.

"We think it's going to work great," Thomas said. "Thankfully, we've avoided any long-term outages because of storms. But, you know, the day is coming, it's Florida. It's going to happen. We just hope that we can be there for the Glades community and help the people in need."

Florida's place

Despite the benefits, electric school buses only make up about 3 percent of the national fleet. While states like California and New York are leading the way, Florida ranks 6th in the nation with most of the electric buses found in Miami-Dade County.

"I would encourage anybody who's running any form of a bus fleet to consider either a total replacement or the very least a hybridization, because these busses have a place and they can absolutely handle the load," Thomas said.

Glades is the only county in Southwest Florida with electric school buses at this time.

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