Kenni Schrader: Electric School Bus Crusader

“Kids want to know why they aren’t riding the electric buses when there’s a change,” says Kenni Schrader, the Transportation Supervisor for Three Rivers Community Schools in southern Michigan. She could be also considered a crusader of electric school buses, since she helped facilitate the largest single roll out in the country. “The electric school bus idea came in 2016 with a collaboration with the Michigan Association For Pupil Transportation and other districts,” she says. “There was pushback when I first brought the idea up; many in the district said they didn’t want to be guinea pigs.” But Kenni knew the future was right around the corner, and used a Massachusetts pilot program to back up the push for it. And now, school board members still ask for updates about the “new buses...even though it’s been four years!”

With the buses funded through VW dieselgate mitigation, the school district and the five schools in it agreed on an OEM, The Lion Electric Company. They were selected based on their history and engineering in HDV EVs. The school district received buses in December 2019, and after state inspections and training, deployed them after winter break. The buses were so new that their local utility didn’t even know about the buses, so they got them on board as well. Every two weeks they were in contact to understand more about how they were working and how their success with the rollout could contribute to the utility cooperation. All in all, it was a 33 month project; 45 EV buses were ordered originally, which made it the largest single rollout in the country, not just Michigan.

“The routes to use the buses were selected by comparisons between rural and urban areas” says Schrader. “We have 139 sq miles total for the district and we selected trained drivers based on their previous connections to EVs.” Drivers did some specific EV bus training for Lion, and two routes were selected for the rollout. One bus was planned to do 50-60 miles a day, while the other was planned 70-90 miles a day. Part of the strategic roll out included planned charging times; they have the buses charged overnight unless needed for other assignments; with a special rate of 9 cents a kW that they negotiated with the utility. Buses come back with no less than 30% battery on the long route, saving plenty of buffer for additional usage if needed. The district’s drivers were excited to drive them and learn more about them, since they would be some of the first in the country. “Drivers are cross trained and first responders/towing groups were also trained. Our top priority is a safe environment” said Schrader. On top of moving students, they used them to deploy mobile WiFi to students and deliver meals to groups during the COVID pandemic. So far, the buses have led to a cost savings of $44,000 in fuel alone, as they’ve only spent about $12,000 on fuel since acquisition. Kenni remarked “all the money saved goes right back to the classrooms.” Who wouldn't want that?