Two battery-electric school buses will be added to the Princeton Public Schools’ bus fleet.
The Princeton Public Schools Board of Education approved the purchase of two 54-passenger Blue Bird electric school buses for $813,069 from Hoover Truck and Bus Centers at its March 18 meeting.
The purchase is being partially funded by a $600,000 grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Electric School Bus grant program. The grant award documents are currently being reviewed and finalized by the state agency.
The school board also approved an application for a $100,000 state grant to cover the cost of installing a DC fast-charging station for the two electric school buses at its March 18 meeting.
And lastly, the school board approved the purchase and installation of a 66kw bi-directional DC fast charger for $212,148 from Troller Electric LLC. Officials expect to apply to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities’ Clean Fleet grant program for funding.
Of the 21,700 school buses registered in New Jersey, more than 99% run on fossil fuels, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Electric School Bus grant program.
The buses provide needed transportation services, but they negatively affect the health of students and residents of the communities in which they operate, NJDEP officials said.
To address the issue, the NJDEP Electric School Bus grant program is providing up to $15 million each year for three years to replace diesel school buses with battery-electric school buses.
The Princeton Public Schools had applied for a grant to replace diesel and gasoline school buses with battery-electric buses in 2022, but the application was denied.
School district officials said at the time that they would not give up on applying for grants to replace them with battery-electric buses.
