Five electric buses are being added to the Alexandria City Public Schools fleet in Virginia.
The new buses are being introduced “as part of the division’s commitment to sustainability and hybrid vehicles,” a news release from the school department said Tuesday.
The ceremonial “plug-in” with school division leadership, Dominion Energy, the Sonny Merryman bus company and Alexandria city officials happened at an event on Tuesday.
The electric buses were bought by ACPS with the help of the Dominion Energy Electric School Bus Program, which provided funding for 50 buses to 15 localities across Virginia.
ACPS bought five of the 50 buses allotted.
The school division currently has 118 buses and will operate the largest percentage of clean energy electric school buses in Northern Virginia.
“As part of the Department of Facilities and Operations, the ACPS Transportation Office is always working to help ACPS lead the charge in clean energy,” Director of Pupil Transportation and Fleet Management Scott Merriman said in a statement. “These new electric buses are energy-efficient and cost-effective, and reflect our school division’s interest in environmentally-friendly operations.”
According to the news release, replacing one diesel bus with one electric bus is the equivalent of removing 5.2 cars from the road each year. And they’re 60% less expensive to operate and maintain.
“I want to commend the ACPS Transportation and Facilities & Operations teams for all of their hard work to bring electric buses to our school division. I’m excited about the partnership behind this initiative, and thank Dominion Energy and all whose support made this possible. We continually seek ways to support our students, and these new buses will help our students get to school safely while protecting our environment,” Superintendent Gregory Hutchings said in the release.
