Photo: Highland Electric FleetsMinnesota’s only public school district located within a sovereign tribal nation has added two new electric school buses to its fleet. This makes Red Lake School District #38 one of the first public school districts in the US with a predominantly Indigenous population (98%) to tap into funding from the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, which granted the district $790,000 to buy electric school buses and chargers. We’re proud to have acquired these two electric school buses, and we believe they will serve us well.”The sovereign tribal nation’s district, which serves 1,560 students, partnered with Highland Electric Fleets, a company that provides Electrification-as-a-Service for school bus fleets in North America, to procure two Blue Bird Type C Vision Electric school buses and two EV chargers for its bus depot. Each of the new electric buses will transport about 50 students, and with the charging infrastructure in place, the electric buses will have an average range of 110 miles per day with a full midday charge. Duncan McIntyre, CEO and founder of Highland Electric Fleets, told me in a video call, “School bus transportation is hyperlocal, and this project gave us the opportunity to meet Red Lake Nation where they are and help them further their mission of bringing safe, reliable electric school bus service to their community.”Read more: Blue Bird just delivered its 2,000th electric school bus

Source: Daily Nation October 09, 2024 23:33 UTC