Editorial: Transition to electric school buses to ease panic at N.C. pumps
CBC Editorial: Thursday, May 20, 2021; Editorial #8671
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company.
Long range thinking in the North Carolina General Assembly rarely extends beyond the next election.
Lately, however, that vision has an even narrower focus. It is just to the next visit to the gasoline pump. As a result, legislators are overlooking opportunities for long-range solutions for some energy independence and even cost savings.
At a hastily organized hearing on the pipeline hack this week legislative leadership gathered the usual suspects -- petroleum marketers and conventional fuel burners. The solutions to the state’s panic-driven gasoline shortage (that came about because of Colonial Pipeline’s hacked digital security) from these conventional sources was MORE pipelines (and the massive multi-year infrastructure costs), more gasoline, more petroleum consumption, more of the same. Not to mention more accompanying litigation to address the variety of environment consequences.
They are only addressing the obvious. Legislators ignored one of the major impacts of the shortage and a very common-sense remedy.
After finally starting to emerge from COVID-19 pandemic-imposed remote learning, several of the state’s school districts including Wake County, were forced to return to it because school buses were stranded.
That did not have to be. The Colonial Pipeline Panic of 2021 should provide state officials with the motivation to address it.
The solution to this part of the “crisis” is to move toward broad adoption of electric-powered school buses. They are the perfect application. They never travel far from a fuel source. They are idle for extended periods – allowing for re-charging. Fuel costs are SIGNIFICANTLY lower with the bonus of reduced petroleum fuel consumption and less carbon pollution.
More-so, one of the chief manufacturers, Thomas Built Buses is headquartered in High Point and this would be an initiative helping a home-grown business. Last month, Vice President Kamala Harris toured the Thomas plant. She called it “a model for the world.”
Harris said it was a “prime, perfect clear example of what I call American aspiration -- of our ability to see what is possible and then do it. Do it in a way that is an investment in research, technology and innovation.”
Transitioning to more electric school buses is no small matter. Every school day more than 14,000 buses shuttle nearly 800,000 students to and from the state’s public schools. These buses will travel a total of 181.3 million miles in a year – about to the Sun and back. These buses will burn $154 million in petroleum fuel a year – 85 cents a mile. If they were all electric, fuel costs would be a mere $34.4 million at 19 cents per mile.
Even before this latest fuel panic, leaders have been looking to encourage transitions to electric school buses.
The state Utilities Commission, last November, approved a program for Duke Energy to offset the purchase of 30 electric buses statewide – trimmed from the 85 buses initially requested. Last summer, Gov. Roy Cooper announced that a portion of the state’s Volkswagen Settlement funds would be used to purchase a few electric school buses – although the biggest chunk of funds for school buses will be used to purchase petroleum-fueled buses.
Rather than waiting for the next crisis or panic, Cooper, Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt and state legislative leaders should be working with electric utilities, local school systems and others to transition bus fleets completely to electrified vehicles.
With federal funding – particularly money available through the various federal pandemic relief programs including the American Jobs Plan – there is money that will make a dent in the significant initial purchase price.
Do this now, so that if, and when there is the next gasoline panic or pipeline disruption it won’t stop kids from getting to school for their lessons, not to mention also saving taxpayers’ money.
