P.E.I. government buying more electric school buses after successful first term on road

The province is looking to add more electric school buses to its fleet by the end of this year after a successful first term using them out on the road.

Dave Gillis, director of transportation and risk management with the Public Schools Branch (PSB), said 11 of the province's 12 electric school buses joined the fleet in March and ran throughout the spring until the end of the school year. 

He said right now, the PSB only has a small sample size — in terms of time spent on the road and the number of buses being used — but so far the feedback has been very positive. 

Gillis said the province has a tender out for 35 more electric buses and the plan is to have the first shipment arrive in time to be on the road when school starts in September, with the remainder arriving by the end of the year.

"Buses thus far have been very positively received, the drivers like them, the kids like them," Gillis said. 

"As a matter of fact we've had a number of kids and drivers both asking us when their fossil fuel bus will be replaced with an electric." 

Gillis said there are a number of positive changes that come along with the electric buses. Apart from the impact on the environment, the buses are much quieter and students don't have to walk through gas or diesel fumes while getting aboard. The buses also reduce fuel costs and so far, have been easier to maintain, he said.

Plugging one of these buses in is probably the equivalent of plugging in three or four stoves.— Dave Gillis, Public Schools Branch

"There are far fewer moving parts on an electric bus so we're anticipating the ongoing maintenance costs to be significantly less as well," Gillis said.

The new buses would be another step in the province's plan to phase out fossil fuel buses from the fleet entirely. Gillis said if the province were to continue replacing buses at this rate it could electrify the fleet of over 300 buses in about 10 years, but there are some challenges that need to be addressed in order to do that.

New charging locations to be set up

Gillis said one challenge with electrifying the fleet is having enough places to charge them. 

"Plugging one of these buses in is probably the equivalent of plugging in three or four stoves," Gillis said.

"Multiply that by 30 or 40 buses at a central charging location it kind of gives you an indication of the type of conduit, or the scope of power that we need to charge these buses." 

He said another factor is where charging locations will be established as the province acquires more buses. 

He said the Queens County Highway Depot has been the central charging station for the buses, and two other locations — the bus depot in Slemon Park and Three Oaks High School in Summerside — have been chosen for when the 35 new buses arrive.

Another potential challenge will be how they fare during a P.E.I. winter. They still haven't been driven during the Island's coldest temperatures. which would impact their batteries, Gillis said. 

"Until we get through two or three P.E.I. winters we won't really have a firm opinion of how good or bad the buses are working," he said.

"We're very optimistic that they'll prove well."

'It's something we're all used to now'

Jason MacKinnon, a school bus driver and driving trainer, said the electric bus didn't take very long to get used to but there are some differences.

The biggest is that there's no engine so starting and shutting down the bus is a different process, he said. The electric buses are also about six inches wider than fossil fuel buses, which takes time to get used to.

Another big change: the music.

"It's very, very quiet going along the side streets. We have the noise it emits to let the pedestrians and students and everybody else know that we're on the road."

"It's different, it's different. But it's something we're all used to now." 

Gillis said the sound is actually a safety feature of the electric buses. They are very quiet and can be hard to hear when travelling at slow speeds, so the music helps alert people that the bus is approaching.

According to MacKinnon, it's a feature of the bus that students have come to really enjoy.

"They all love it. They're the cool kids on the electric bus." 

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