Carter County (Kentucky) Schools, with 11 schools serving about 4,200 students, is getting 23 new Blue Bird Vision electric school buses for a pilot program in the school district.

Blue Bird's newest Vision bus has a 196 kWh battery, up 25% compared to the previous model, and can travel up to 130 miles on a single charge. The high-performance battery takes three hours to fully recharge because it supports a fast-charging rate of 80 kW.

The compact and lightweight batteries contribute to improved efficiency and a vehicle weight reduction of approximately 1,000 lbs. In turn, Blue Bird increased the seating capacity of its new Vision electric bus to 77 passengers, up from 72 passengers.

After the completion of the latest Blue Bird bus delivery, CCS will maintain a bus fleet of nearly 75 vehicles. CCS school buses travel more than 3,600 miles each school day, as they pick up and safely transport up to 3,000 students to and from schools.

“We are thrilled to deploy our very first electric school buses to lower the emissions of our school bus fleet,” said Dr. Paul Green, superintendent of Carter County Schools. “Clean student transportation is one of our top priorities. Blue Bird’s most advanced, zero-emission school buses will help us to create a healthier environment for our students and our communities at-large.”

“We are pleased that Carter County Schools places its trust in Blue Bird to help the school district transition to clean student transportation,” said Britton Smith, president of Blue Bird Corporation. “Over the past century, Blue Bird has emerged as an iconic company well recognized for its best-in-class technology and innovation. Today, school districts and students alike benefit from Blue Bird’s unrivalled leadership in low- and zero-emission vehicles. Electric school buses mean cleaner air to breathe.”

CCS received a $9-million grant through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2022 Clean School Bus Rebate Program to purchase its Blue Bird electric school bus fleet. This program is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which provides a total of $5 billion over five years for clean school bus transportation nationwide.