North Dakota’s West Fargo Public Schools has taken
delivery of the state’s first electric school bus, a Blue
Bird Vision with the Cummins PowerDrive system. The
electric bus has a range of 120 miles and can operate in
temperatures as low as negative 20 degrees.
Funding for the bus was provided by the North Dakota
Department of Commerce, the Coalition for a Secure
Energy Future, and Cass County Electric. The school
district has 54 buses in its fleet and intends to add more
EVs if it receives more grant money.
Brad Redmond, West Fargo Public Schools’ Transpor-
tation Director, said, “We’re estimating that we will save
North Dakota deploys first
electric school bus
approximately 70 percent in energy costs and 70 to 80
percent in maintenance costs. By reducing costs and the
impact on air quality, our Blue Bird electric bus benefits
our community greatly.”Image courtesy of Blue Bird