GHG Emissions  -  February 17, 2022

Fairfax School District Receives First Zero Emissions Buses

Fairfax School District added two zero emissions Blue Bird school buses to its fleet this school year as part of a pilot program managed by the Vermont Energy Investment corporation.

The school district’s Blue Bird electric school buses were purchased from the Agency of Natural Resources Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Fund. Fairfax School District was the first in the state to receive Cummins-powered electric school buses from Anderson Motors Blue Bird Bus Sales of New England in July and placed them into service for the start of the school year.

“By participating in this pilot program, Fairfax School District is leading the state in adopting clean and economical Blue Bird electric school buses,” said Matthew Stevenson, president and CEO of Blue Bird Corporation in a statement. “Transitioning to these emission-free school buses makes sense for school districts to help reduce their carbon footprints, which means cleaner air for our children.”

The school district is using Level 2 AC PowerPort charging stations from Nuvve Holding Corp. and the buses are vehicle-to-grid (V2G)-ready should Fairfax upgrade to Nuvve’s V2G DC fast chargers in the future. This platform allows the school bus batteries to store energy when the grid doesn’t have immediate need for it, which then lets fleets provide stored energy back to the grid when demand calls for it.

According to pilot program administrator Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, the district can save as much as $36,000 in fuel costs for each of its electric buses compared with a diesel bus and annual GHG emissions will be approximately 97% lower than diesel.

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