Texas
In cities big and small, electric school buses are coming to the roads of Texas. Here’s why.
Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District added 10 electric school buses to its daily bus routes in the 2023-2024 school year.
Courtesy of Cy-Fair ISDThe largest institution in Martinsville, an unincorporated logging and farming community in rural East Texas, is its school district. Area landmarks include a log-cabin post office and a Dollar General store; a gas station and a doughnut shop opened last year.
“We’re growing,” said a grinning Will Cauthen, associate superintendent of Martinsville Independent School District, which serves 320 students from preschool to 12th grade.
The newcomers that have drawn the most attention to Martinsville, population 1,400, from across the state and beyond are the four electric school buses Martinsville ISD added in October. The district is the first in Texas to have an all-electric fleet shuttling children to and from school every day.
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In cities big and small, electric school buses are beginning to hit the roads of Texas. Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District added 10 electric school buses to its daily bus routes this school year, while Houston Independent School District plans to add 15 electric school buses to its routes next school year.
The charging port of an electric school bus owned by Cy-Fair Independent School District is seen above. The district began operating 10 electric school buses in the 2023-2023 school year.
Courtesy of Cy-Fair ISDThe electric versions don’t look that different from the classic yellow school bus. If people notice a change, it’s the lack of noise: Without the roar of the diesel engine, kids no longer have to shout to be heard, with drivers reporting an unintentional improvement in student behavior, according to Albert Burleigh, vice president of alternative fuels for Blue Bird, a major school bus manufacturer that has been offering electric models since 2018.
“They’re so quiet we actually have to add a noise generator so that when they’re going really slow, like 20 miles an hour or less, it emits a sound so kids can hear it coming,” Burleigh said.
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The school districts cite a variety of benefits, from air quality improvement to savings on maintenance and fuel costs, made possible by government grants that cover much of the cost of the buses and chargers. With more federal and state funding on the way, electric school buses could soon become a more common sight in Texas, industry players say.
Transportation is the greatest share of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Electrifying school buses, which make up the largest segment of public transit in the country, has the added benefit of “normalizing electric mobility for an entire new generation,” said Jessica Keithan, co-founder and director of the Texas Electric School Bus Project.
“It’s such good low-hanging fruit, such good testing ground for the expansion of fleet electrification,” she said.
Martinsville Independent School District purchased four electric school buses with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The buses began taking students on daily routes in October 2023.
Courtesy of Martinsville ISDAdvertisement
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A win-win
HISD just broke ground in the northwest part of the city on a new charging station for its incoming electric school buses, said John Wilcots, the district’s director of transportation. It’s a pilot program to see how well electric school buses work for HISD’s needs, he said. “The whole goal is to see how we could reduce our carbon footprint.”
HISD received a $6.2 million grant from the Biden administration’s Clean School Bus Program last year and is using the funds to purchase 15 electric buses, 10 propane buses and build six charging stations for almost $7.3 million, Wilcots said. The 25 new buses, which would allow the district to retire 25 older diesel buses, comprise just a sliver of HISD’s fleet of 700 buses.
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One major consideration for Wilcots is range: The buses are able to drive about 120 miles per charge, he said. Wilcots envisions the electric buses will be used primarily for students in densely populated areas all going to the same school, rather than picking up individual students who attend schools across town.
According to Wilcots, the district was “sought after” by the EPA to apply for the program, which prioritized funding for communities overburdened by air pollution. Houston is among the worst U.S. cities for air pollution, with impact disproportionately falling on the city’s Black and brown residents.
Martinsville ISD was another one of 11 school districts in Texas that received Clean School Bus Program funding. For the district’s Cauthen, the decision to go electric was driven by economics.
The district was shopping around for new buses when a vendor told them about the EPA program, from which Martinsville ISD received nearly $1.6 million, Cauthen said. That funded the purchase of four electric school buses at about $375,000 each; five chargers, more than $4,000 each; and installation. The only out-of-pocket cost to the district was $5,000 to install a new electric pole and meter, he said.
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The district anticipates an 82% reduction in fuel costs when comparing electricity to diesel prices, as well as saving tens of thousands of dollars annually on maintenance costs. Its diesel buses were “constantly breaking down,” Cauthen said.
With the savings, the district is pondering reducing class sizes, he said. “It’s a win-win for us. We were able to take those (diesel) buses that were not reliable to get kids to and from school and replace them.”
Like at HISD, range is still a concern. The electric buses have no problem running daily routes, the longest of which are about an hour drive round-trip, but Martinsville ISD still has four diesel buses on deck in case of longer field trips or sporting events, Cauthen said.
Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District added 10 electric school buses to its daily bus routes in the 2023-2024 school year.
Courtesy of Cy-Fair ISDBig batteries
Though not a focus of school districts, electric school buses could also be a boost to the Texas power grid.
Electric school buses can serve as “big batteries” that could help with grid stability and even provide emergency power to buildings in the event of an outage, said Gregory Poilasne, CEO of Nuvve, a San Diego company specializing in electric school bus charging and consulting. Electric school bus batteries range from 105 to 300 kilowatt-hours in size, while grid-scale batteries range from 40,000 to 200,000 kilowatt-hours, he said.
School buses can charge during the overnight off-hours when power is cheaper and soak up excess solar power during the early afternoon. They sit idle when not driving routes, making them especially good candidates to sell power back to the grid during the late afternoon – another potential revenue source for districts – when solar power decreases at sunset, Poilasne said.
“A parking lot of 50 school buses literally becomes the same as a power plant,” he said.
But the main barrier to electric school buses becoming a grid solution is the same barrier to their widespread use: cost. Vehicle-to-grid chargers are about $55,000 each, more than 10 times the price of a basic charger, according to Nuvve data. More complicated chargers may also require more infrastructure upgrades, thus increasing districts’ expenses.
Powering up
He said Texas was a “late adopter” of electric school buses. But that could soon change: There are $1.8 billion in grants and loans set aside for backup power sources, specifically including electric school buses, in the Texas Energy Fund, a constitutional amendment approved by voters earlier this month as part of a $10 billion bill primarily to spur construction of natural gas power plants.
In anticipation of the wave of new funding, Blue Bird, which had already been seeing “exponential growth year over year,” scaled up the production capacity of its factory earlier this year to be able to build up to 5,000 electric school buses a year, Burleigh said.
“We’re having trouble keeping up with demand,” he said.
Texas vs. Clemson: Quinn Ewers, Hayden Conner react to CFP win
Texas defeated Clemson, 38-24, in the first round of the 2024 College Football Playoff.
Texas football is preparing to face the champion of its old conference in the College Football Playoff, with Big 12 champion Arizona State awaiting in the Peach Bowl.
Texas was tested in the first round, defeating Clemson 34-24 behind a rejuvenated running attack led by Jaydon Blue and Quintrevion Wisner. However, the Sun Devils, winners of six straight games, also have a fierce rushing attack led by running back Cam Skattebo, who has run for 1,568 yards rushing and 22 total touchdowns.
BUY TICKETS FOR TEXAS VS. ARIZONA STATE HERE
The Peach Bowl is held at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta the same site of Texas’ loss to Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship game. The winner will advance to the Cotton Bowl, where Ohio State or Big Ten champion Oregon will await. Ohio State advanced to the quarterfinals after beating Tennessee at home, 42-17.
Here’s everything to know about the upcoming game:
Where is Texas vs Arizona State?
Texas will travel to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta to face Arizona State. It is also the location of the national championship game.
CFP Bowl locations
Peach Bowl
Location: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Matchup: No. 5 Texas vs. No. 4 Arizona State
Fiesta Bowl
Location: State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Matchup: No. 3 Boise State vs. No. 6 Penn State
Sugar Bowl
Location: Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
Matchup: No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 7 Notre Dame
Rose Bowl
Location: Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Matchup: No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 1 Oregon
Texas vs. Arizona State tickets
Tickets for Texas’ game against Arizona State are available here.
CFP schedule
Playoff quarterfinals
All times in CT
Tuesday, Dec. 31
Fiesta Bowl, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 1
Peach Bowl, noon
Rose Bowl, 4 p.m.
Sugar Bowl, 7:45 p.m.
Playoff semifinals
All times in CT
Thursday, Jan. 9
Orange Bowl, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 10
Cotton Bowl, 6:30 p.m.
Playoff Championship
Monday, Jan. 20 at 6:30 p.m. CT
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The Texas Longhorns are three games away from a national championship, and for the quarterfinal matchup against Arizona State, the Horns will travel to a familiar field.
Texas will take on the Sun Devils at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, the same venue that hosted the SEC Championship loss to Georgia.
The new opponents have a similar story to Texas: a conference newcomer that dominated the veterans.
Arizona State joined Texas’ former conference, the Big 12, and had a breakthrough season. The Sun Devils defeated Iowa State in the conference championship to take the trophy home in their maiden season.
The Sun Devils are led by redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt, a transfer from Michigan State. Leavitt has recorded 192 completions in 304 passing attempts for 24 touchdowns.
The defense is also led by a transfer player out of New Mexico State. Junior defensive back Myles Rowser has recorded 88 tackles and one sack.
Arizona State only dropped two games this season, both in conference play at Cincinnati and Texas Tech. The season record and championship clinch earned the Sun Devils the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff, awarding them with a bye week in the first round.
Texas, on the other hand, fell to Georgia in the championship game and dropped to the fifth seed, while the Bulldogs earned the second. But that wasn’t enough to stop the Longhorns from advancing.
The Horns had no issues defeating ACC champion Clemson in the first round at home.
Texas and Arizona State will face each other on New Year’s Day for a spot in the semifinals.
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The Texas Longhorns had a great weekend in the College Football Playoffs and the NFL. Multiple former players scored touchdowns, sacks and even made interesting kicking history.
Here are some of the top performances for former Longhorns in the NFL:
Jones tried his best for Denver against the Los Angeles Chargers having his third game of the season with ten tackles (seven solo). He even added his tenth pass deflection of the year, the first time he has had 10+ pass deflections in his five-year NFL career.
The Broncos however dropped to 9-6, losing 34-27.
The other Longhorn in the Broncos secondary also had a good game to a lesser extent. Locke got six tackles (two solo) which was third on the team. The Broncos next play the Cincinnati Bengals on Dec. 28th.
Now going to the winning side of Thursday Night Football, Dicker knocked down both of his field goal attempts, including a rare fair catch free kick from 57 yards out to cut the Chargers’ deficit to 21-13.
A rare fair catch free kick results in a Cameron Dicker 57-yard FG for the @Chargers 🤯
It’s the first free kick FG since 1976! pic.twitter.com/yb0cyPuKnR
— NFL (@NFL) December 20, 2024
That kick was his second longest of the season, Dicker also knocked down a 37-yarder earlier in the second quarter as well and knocked both of his extra-pointers. The Chargers are now 9-6 this season.
Worthy has seen his production increase for the Chiefs in recent weeks. And on Sunday against the Houston Texans, Worthy had a career-high seven receptions for 65 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown came in the third quarter to give the Chiefs a 24-16 lead. Kansas City went on to hold on 27-19 to continue to a league-best 14-1 record.
That’s Worthy’s fifth touchdown of the season which ties him for first on Kansas City in receiving touchdowns with Noah Gray.
Tucker has struggled a tiny bit in recent weeks but he bounced back strongly in the 34-17 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tucker tried and succeeded with a 51-yarder late in the second quarter to extend the lead 17-7, and then he hit a 23-yarder to put the game to rest in the fourth and make it 34-17.
Tucker also knocked his four extra point attempts as the Ravens won a crucial game, and moved to 10-5.
The Falcons dominated on all cylinders with new QB Michael Penix against the New York Giants, and Bijan Robinson helped a lot with it.
He rushed for 94 yards on 22 attempts, scoring two touchdowns, one in the second and one in the third. Robinson is now at 11 touchdowns this season for the Falcons as they win 34-7 and improve to 8-7.
The Browns struggled, losing 24-6 to the Cincinnati Bengals. But Hicks led the team in tackles with nine (seven solo).
But the Browns move to 3-12 after losing their fourth straight.
On the other sideline, Ossai had his best game of the season, having a season-high in tackles with five (four solo) and also getting his fourth sack of the season.
Ossai capped off his dominant performance with his first forced fumble as well as the Bengals win their third straight, and go to 7-8.
Monday Night Football between the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints will only have one former Longhorn with Saints linebacker Jaylan Ford, has only four tackles all season for them.
That game will start at 7:15 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Join the Community:
Subscribe to our YouTube Page HERE
You can follow us for future coverage by subscribing to our newsletter here. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook @LonghornsCountryOnSI & follow us on Twitter at @LonghornsSI
Other Texas Longhorns News:
MORE: One Texas Longhorns Wide Receiver Has Emerged as Unlikely Star
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MORE: Texas Longhorns’ Gunnar Helm Calls Out Doubters After Breaking Program Record
MORE: Texas Longhorns RB Jaydon Blue Joins CFP Record Books
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