A new federal grant will enable Fairfax County Public Schools to upgrade more than three dozen school buses to more environmentally friendly models.
Virginia’s largest public school system will receive $12.9 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program — enough to replace 43 buses with electric or zero-emission vehicles, Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced last week.
The program, which was created by the Inflation Reduction Act that Congress adopted in 2022, will also award $16.7 million to Roanoke City Public Schools and $2.9 million to Henrico County Public Schools, according to the senators.
“We’re thrilled to see this funding going towards ensuring that Virginia’s students are headed to school in new and nonpolluting school buses,” Warner and Kaine said in a press release. “Laws like our Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law continue to work together to make improvements that keep our air cleaner and our infrastructure stronger for generations to come.”
Replacing diesel vehicles, the new buses will help FCPS put another dent in its goal of providing carbon-neutral transportation to students by 2035.
According to FCPS, its fleet of 1,625 school buses currently includes 28 electric vehicles. The school system is in the process of obtaining 42 more electric school buses made possible by a different federal grant awarded in January.
In a statement to FFXnow, FCPS said that it’s “thrilled” to receive the new Clean Heavy Duty Vehicles grant, which will bring its total number of electric school buses to 113.
“This significant investment directly supports our ongoing efforts to transition to a more sustainable transportation fleet, reduce emissions, and advance our commitment to environmental stewardship as outlined by the Joint Environmental Task Force (JET),” FCPS said.
The joint task force was formed by the Fairfax County School Board and Board of Supervisors in 2019 to address climate change and environmental sustainability issues. Recommendations issued in a 2020 report led the county to commit to achieving carbon neutrality by 2040, among other goals.
As of 2023, the county government was just 1.5% of the way toward its goal of fully electrifying its vehicle fleet by 2035. It has at least 224 hybrid and 50 fully electric vehicles, including trash trucks and Fairfax Connector buses.
“We are grateful for the continued support of our federal and local partners, and we look forward to expanding our electric bus fleet to benefit our students, the community, and the environment,” FCPS said.
While electric vehicles have a variety of benefits, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions and health improvements, the county got a reminder of their challenges when an electric Connector bus crashed into a parking garage and caught fire last Tuesday (Dec. 10).
No passengers were on the bus at the time, but the driver was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Fairfax Connector said. The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department told WJLA that putting out a fire on an electric bus was more difficult, because the battery can reignite.
Screenshot via FCPS/YouTube
