The Lakewood and Jackson Public School Districts are among 14 recipients in the state to receive a grant for the purchase of electric school buses and charging stations.
The combined grant of $3,420,000 for the two Ocean County districts is from a total of $15 million awarded statewide for districts to purchase of 48 electric school buses in the state.
The state’s Electric School Bus Grant Program is administered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and is funded through the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities’ Clean Energy Fund.
It was authorized by legislation Governor Phil Murphy signed in 2022 to provide up to $45 million in funding over three years to replace diesel school buses with battery-electric school buses. The program also funds the installation of charging infrastructure.
The Lakewood School District has been awarded up to $1,560,000 for five school buses, two level two charging stations and three fast charging stations while the Jackson School District has been awarded up to $1,860,000 for six school buses, three level two charging stations and three fast charging stations.
The Lakewood grant is in addition to a separate federal grant received earlier this year from the U.S. EPA via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) which will help purchase another 14 buses for Lakewood.
Just remember, these electric buses cost three times as much as the diesel buses.
You do save a drop on maintenance, but the state requires a lot of maintenance that is unnecessary, so a lot of those savings are negated
A little confused here because Lakewood doesn’t have any “Lakewood public school” buses that I’m aware of. Every bus I see is from a private company that bids for the route. So is Lakewood actually going to now have buses (which they did away with years ago because it was “cheaper to outsource”) or are there private companies that are going to receive a free gift? Jackson still has Jackson Schools branded public school buses.
It maybe a good time for private and public schools hold talks to the children about these type of buses. Like electric cars they run silent compared to diesel. Children will have to be more alert as they buses travel and kids cross the streets.
Ridiculous that this is what they spend money on. Spend it where it’s needed.