School district gets new electric school buses
PALERMO >> The Palermo Union School District currently has five electric buses with another small electric bus projected to be added to its fleet later in the year.
The Palermo Union School District partnered with Amply Power to help reduce its electricity costs by 50 percent, Amply Power announced Wednesday. Amply Power is a charging service for public and commercial businesses.
In addition to partnering with Amply, the school district received a total of $85,327 in funding through Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and the Butte County Air Quality Management District. According to a press release, the district received $49,839 in funding from the the air quality district and received $35,488 in “charger rebates and make ready Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment incentives” from PG&E.
The Palermo Union School District began using its electric buses in November 2020 since the schools moved to in-person instruction four days a week. On March 10, 2021, the district opened for full-time, inperson learning five days a week. The move upped the need for students needing transportation, said Carlos Aguilar, director of Maintenance, Operations and Transportation for Palermo Union School District in the release.
“Everyone is grateful to be back to school, and our drivers are especially excited about our electric fleet,” Aguilar said in the release. “While transitioning to electric can be intimidating and costly, Amply’s comprehensive and scalable charge management services are taking the planning and management burden off our staff and replacing it with confidence in our fleet’s performance and predictable, fixed fuel pricing.”
The district’s electric buses will charge at an electricity rate equal to $1.19 a gallon of diesel.