Cape Tech Buses Go Electric

 HARWICH – Cape Cod Regional Technical High School and Mercedes Cab Company have received state and federal grants to replace diesel-powered school buses with electric buses.

 While Mercedes Cab Company was the lead applicant in the grants, Cape Tech will realize the benefits of a cleaner means of transportation, replacing diesel-powered school buses with eclectic alternatives.

The state, through the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, announced that the Mercedes Cab Company/Cape Tech partnership was awarded a $1,998,264 grant.

Harwich-based Mercedes Cab has the school transportation contract with Cape Tech. Last year the company received a $3,490,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration’s Clean School Bus Program to purchase 10 electric-powered school buses. 

Mercedes Cab President and CEO Raphael Richter said the funds from the state Bus Deployment Program grant will be used to primarily put charge station infrastructure in place at the school, but some of the funds will be directed to cover the cost of the buses.  

“Students and school districts deserve a less polluted environment than is currently the case with diesel bus fleets,” said Massachusetts Clean Energy Center CEO Dr. Emily Reichhert. “The growing shift to electric buses represents a transformative opportunity to modernize transportation while cutting costs as well as creating a learning opportunity for students and communities.”

There was an embargo on the federal grant, but the funds have now been released. Richter said the school buses are now under construction and are expected to arrive by October or November. 

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, directed the EPA to establish a Clean School Bus Program to accelerate the transition of the nation’s school bus fleet to zero-emission school buses. The new replacement school buses will help reduce harmful emissions from older, dirtier buses that predate the EPA’s more stringent tailpipe emission standards, according to the EPA.

 Richter worked with Cape Tech Superintendent Robert Sanborn, Jr. and School Business Administrator Erin Orcutt on the grant. The buses will be kept at the charging station facilities now under construction in the school parking lot, according to Orcutt. She said work has already begun to bring in the necessary electrical infrastructure from Pleasant Lake Avenue.

 The hope is to have the charging system set up by the start of school in September, but there are some delays in the start of the new bus program, Orcutt said. The buses, she said, will hold a charge for 200 miles under ideal conditions. The school presently uses 11 buses to deliver students door-to-door, Orcutt said. The electric buses will not be used to transport Provincetown and Mashpee students because of the travel distance, she added.

 It takes four hours to fully charge the buses, which will also be used to transport sports teams after school and address other transportation needs, Orcutt said. 

 The school has entered into a five-year transportation contract with Mercedes Cab, and given the potential of some unknowns starting out, Orcutt said in the first year a hybrid transportation program will be in place with a full backup of diesel buses available.   

 Orcutt said the school was anticipating a 25 to 30 percent increase in transportation costs under a new contract, but with the electric system, costs only rose 17 percent.

 Richter said the federal grant requires the buses to be used by the school for at least a five-year period. There are some unknowns with the program, agreed Richter, adding that energy costs are predicted to be pretty similar between the electric powered buses and the traditional carbon fuel buses, especially with the cost of electricity on the Cape. 

 “I don’t expect it to cost more,” he said.

 Just as the company paid the fuel costs for the diesel-powered buses, Richter said his company would pay for the cost of the electricity. He said EverSource would bill his company directly.

 Richter anticipates the electric buses will primarily be used for school transportation and after-school events, but they could also be used periodically to transport private parties. During the summer, his company, which includes Cape Destinations — which he bought in 2023 — does a lot of weddings and other events, and he expects the electric buses will be used for those services.

 The buses are normal size, he said. Eight of 10 will have a 71 to 77 seating capacity, and two of the buses will be Americans with Disabilities Act compliant and have a few less seats.  

The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced the grant on June 10 as part of $9.5 million in grants to eight school districts and private transportation providers as part of the third round of the state’s School Bus Deployment Program.