Bethlehem schools turn the corner on bus pollution with new electric-vehicle pilot program

Lesa Buttillo, the Bethlehem Area School District’s most-tenured school bus driver, remembers the old five-speed manual transmissions she started out on in 2003 and drove for nine and a half years before more automatics came onboard.

She once counted pushing that clutch in 1,000 times on her morning route alone. The seats didn’t adjust, so she’d wedge “War and Peace” behind her back. There was no navigation software — she’d glance down at maps torn from the Yellow Pages.

“You would drive to the yard in the morning, and it looked like a mushroom cloud that would come up out of the yard,” Buttillo said of the air pollution from the buses. “And that was the carbon burning inefficiently through the old diesel engines. … You could taste the taste of diesel in your mouth because it was that thick in the yard.”

The school district on Friday rolled out its two newest buses that don’t combust any fossil fuels — they’re electric. Each Thomas Saf-T-Liner C2 “Jouley” all-electric bus comes with 400-volt motors generating 221 horsepower and a maximum range of 138 miles.

Officials described the new additions as a pilot initiative that will hopefully lead to more electric buses, which ride quietly and help clear the air for students, drivers, school staff and bus depot neighbors.

Only about 1% of the nation’s school bus fleets are electric, with projections from the American School Bus Council that an additional 10,000 will hit the road by 2026, according to Jenny Casebolt-Robinson, the Bethlehem Area’s transportation general manager.

“It is with great pride that we announce the BASD is now a member of that growing movement,” she said at an unveiling of the new models.

State Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Lehigh/Northampton, secured a $1 million grant for Bethlehem’s electric school bus initiative from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. That covered the buses, InCharge 60-kilowatt All-in-One DC Fast Charger station and driver training, according to Mark Stein, district chief facilities and operations officer. PPL Electric Utilities extended the new electrical service needed for the charger at no cost to the district, according to Stein.

It’s part of a commitment to sustainability districtwide that also includes 1.6 megawatts of solar power and energy conservation efforts that have saved taxpayers around $20 million over 13 years, Stein said.

“Today we are celebrating the next chapter in our sustainability journey, and that is the unveiling of our two new electric buses,” he said.

Bethlehem has around 120 buses in its fleet that, save for the newest ones, burn diesel or gasoline, according to Stein. Electric buses cost more up front, about $380,000 compared to $130,000 for one that burns fossil fuels, he said; the cost to fully charge a bus is about a half to two-thirds the expense of a fill-up with fuel. The Jouley buses have regenerative braking that powers up the battery in stop-and-go travel, and the district anticipates a lifespan for the electric buses of 10 years or more — comparable to an internal combustion engine bus, according to Stein.

“The Bethlehem Area School District is proud to lean forward and bring electric buses to the BASD community,” district Superintendent Jack Silva said in a statement on Friday’s rollout at East Hills Middle School, next to the transportation yard. “The new buses will allow us to reduce our impact on the community and provide our students with a safer, healthier ride to school. We are extremely grateful for Senator Lisa Boscola’s support and the generous grant which allowed us to begin electrifying our fleet.”

Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolods at Friday’s unveiling applauded the school district for the commitment, passion and team to make the electric buses a reality. It’s the kind of advancement that supports the city’s Climate Action Plan, he said.

“The school district is filled with people that actually get things done, and this is an example of that,” he said.

PPL Electric Utilities President Christine Martin also attended the event, stating: “PPL Electric Utilities was thrilled to partner with the Bethlehem Area School district to help make its electric school bus transportation plans a reality. Our investments to build a strong, flexible and modern grid are critical to meet the growth in electrification and distributed energy resources. Collaboration with the school district on this project is a prime example of how together we can drive forward an affordable clean energy transition for our customers and the communities we serve.”

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.