A Huntsville, Ontario, electric school bus had a change of plans during the morning ride on Monday, January 13. En route to school, the bus broke down. The driver pulled over and called for a replacement, which picked up the students to finish the route. But shortly after, the bus was up in flames. The Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire Department’s fire prevention officer said he does not believe that the battery was involved in the cause. (Not all agree.) 

Meanwhile just last Tuesday in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, four parked electric buses in the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative bus yard also caught on fire. They were new buses not yet in service. The cause is still under investigation.

For electric skeptics who were already leery of electric school buses (ESBs), these two back-to-back incidents — or thermal events — may be enough to spook them.

I think we all can get behind lowering emissions and offering cleaner air for children going to school, but the biggest variable when it comes to ESBs lies in the battery itself. Range anxiety and performance aside, most of the concerns among drivers and directors comes down to not wanting to put kids at risk of an electric bus catching on fire with students on board.

After the most recent fires, some comments I saw in a school bus driver group said:

• “Another electric school bus fire how sad they need to stop making these ASAP and try something safe.”

• “Don't want them.”

• “Keep my diesel”

• “Nope we have one and it don’t run half the time”

• “Many of us knew this was gonna happen, we seen Teslas catch on fire, we knew school buses were gonna catch on fire there or electric and you can’t put them out quickly”

EV proponents point out that diesel buses catch fire, too. According to the United States Department of Transportation, there are 380 reportable school bus fires per year (which are not broken down by fuel type). But, there have been zero bus-fire-related deaths reported to the National Fire Incident Reporting System. While not apples to apples, a study in Sweden found that gas- and diesel-burning passenger vehicles have a 1 in 1,300 chance of catching fire, compared to a 1 in 38,000 chance of fire for electric vehicles and hybrids. World Resources Institute’s Electric School Bus Initiative puts it more plainly: gasoline or diesel vehicles are more likely to catch fire than electric vehicles.

The concern, however, is that once an electric bus does catch on fire, the situation becomes even more precarious.

As cleanup efforts have begun in the wake of the LA wildfire devastation, there are reports of the danger of abandoned electric vehicles. “A lot of the cars in the evacuation area were lithium batteries,” Jacqui Irwin, a state assembly member representing Pacific Palisades, told Bloomberg News. “We’ve heard from firefighters that those lithium batteries burned fires near homes – like those with power walls – for much longer.”

Considering the potential loss of funding for electric vehicles, all of this feels like another setback for fleet electrification. While many drivers and consumers are pleading that we pump the brakes on EVs, the case becomes stronger that the technology needs more time to work out kinks and become safer and more reliable. Not to mention districts’ infrastructure and the larger grid needing attention.

Add to this California Air Resources Board (CARB) withdrawing its request for a waiver from the EPA for its Advanced Clean Fleets regulation that required 75% all Class 4-8 new sales must be zero-emission by 2035. In New York, law mandates that all new school bus purchases must be electric starting in 2027, and that districts replace their gas and diesel buses with electric school buses by 2035. Critics claim it is much too ambitious.

The bottom line: Even if statistics show that electric bus batteries are safe, news reports from recent events are sparking fear and doubt, especially among those already hesitant of the new tech. For ESBs to catch on, the industry must present a stronger case before buy-in and trust increases.

So, what does all of this mean for the future of school buses and how they are fueled? Well, ESBs may not be the end-all-be-all, but an important piece of the bigger-picture puzzle, particularly for diverse fleets taking a modular approach.

Clearly, diesel will be around longer than we first anticipated. Gasoline and propane-powered buses also are poised for a popularity boost. But, that diesel is different than it used to be, with additives and modifications to make the fuel cleaner and meet emissions standards. 

Renewable diesel, biodiesel, and new innovations like the DEMI kit offer interesting alternatives and are often easier to adopt with a lower point of entry. The renewables market is likely to continue to grow, though by how much is yet to be seen.

Stay tuned as we explore the past, present, and future of the diesel school bus in our March issue for more on this topic, and of course there’s plenty more to come on the ESB front.

Got feedback on your experience with electric school buses to share? Leave a comment below or reach out to me at amanda.huggett@bobit.com.