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    Modesto City Schools in California orders 30 Electric Buses from Blue Bird

    March 31, 2022
    This is the single largest order of electric school buses from the district that Blue Bird has received. The Blue Bird All American Type D electric school buses will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2022
    School bus photo courtesy Blue Bird Corp.
    School bus photo courtesy Blue Bird Corp.

    Modesto City Schools in California’s Central Valley has placed an order for 30 zero-emission school buses from bus manufacturer Blue Bird Corporation.

    This is the single largest order of electric school buses from the district that Blue Bird has received. The Blue Bird All American Type D electric school buses will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2022.

    These buses will take about three to eight hours to recharge and run up to 120 miles on a single charge. It will have capacity to carry a maximum of 84 passengers. The maintenance costs of these buses will also be lower than traditional, combustion-fueled buses.

    Modesto City Schools expects to save over $250,000 a year in fuel costs by converting half of its diesel-powered bus fleet to EVs.

    “The price of diesel fuel continues to skyrocket," Modesto City Schools’ Associate Superintendent of Business Services, Tim Zearley said. "Our Sustainability projects are designed to address climate change, reduce air pollution, and lead the next generation of students in learning about a Sustainable lifestyle with renewable energy, carbon reduction, and clean mobility options.”

    The electric school buses are partly funded by the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project of California. 

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.