D&M Tours, a school bus contractor serving multiple communities in Bergen County, New Jersey, has deployed its first fleet of four electric school buses that are now in regular service for the Teaneck, Midland Park, and Ramsey public school districts.  

Van-Con, Inc. built the 20-seater school bus bodies on Motiv electrified chassis in Detroit and did the final assembly at its Middlesex, New Jersey, manufacturing facility. Climate Change Mitigation Technologies LLC (CCMT) developed the project, secured public funding, and was the project manager and commissioning agent. 

“With the start of the new school year, these new buses are on their routes, picking up and dropping off school children safely and sustainably,” said Tim Palomba, CEO of D&M Tours. “These children and their communities will benefit greatly from the Motiv-Van-Con electric buses which dramatically reduce noise and air pollution in the bus “cabin” as well as in the multiple communities along the routes. Zero-emission buses are especially important for the Type A and B school buses that Van-Con makes because they are often used to transport special needs children, who generally spend a greater amount of time on a school bus than the other students.”

The four electric Type B school buses feature Motiv’s EPIC 4 platform and Van-Con’s safe and durable school bus body. Each bus eliminates idling, noise, vibrations as well as tailpipe pollution and CO2 emissions. The routes serviced by this project are ideal for electrification due to their local, repetitive, predictable nature and the fleet’s ability to charge overnight at a central depot.

D&M tours will replace four older gasoline buses, avoiding up to 3,000 gallons of fossil fuel and related costs annually. Over the 15-year useful life of the project it is estimated that the electric buses will log 1,134,000 miles and eliminate over 2 million pounds of tailpipe emissions.

“We are pleased to deliver these buses to one of our best customers as he helps lead the school bus industry into the next century,” said Jim Anderson, president of Van-Con, Inc. “These four buses are the first four of a total of 29 Type B electric school buses we are building with Motiv for districts and contractors across New Jersey. Zero emission buses are especially important for the Type A and B school buses that we make here at Van-Con because these smaller buses are often used to transport special needs children who spend more time on a school bus than other students.”

“Climate Change Mitigation Technologies LLC (CCMT) appreciates the opportunity to partner with D&M Tours, Van-Con, Inc., and Motiv to deliver the first fleet of Type B electric school buses built in major part here in New Jersey,” CCMT CEO James Sherman said. “CCMT’s integration of the buses, chargers, and OCPP charge management control software gives D&M the operational control of charging, real-time economic transparency of charging costs, and management reports it needs. I am pleased to report that the electric school bus fleet, chargers, and control software integration worked seamlessly all summer long and continue to do so. The data we are recording proves that electric is cost-competitive with the gasoline engine on an operating basis.” 

Other project partners include the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) which provided funding for the project, Vanore Electric, Inc., the electrical contractor for the project; PSE&G, which helped expedite project infrastructure, and Grid Link, Inc., the OCPP/charge management software system provider.

A ribbon-cutting event is scheduled for Wednesday, October 29, 2025, at 11 a.m. at the D&M Tours facility at 20 Shady Street in Paterson, NJ. Contact jsherman@ccmtdg.com for an invitation to attend.

Van-Con and CCMT are administering an $18.9 million EPA Clean School Bus grant from 2023, with plans to deliver over 40 electric school buses next year.  

Editor's Note: While some would call this a Type A1 bus, the state of New Jersey classifies a school bus over 10,000 lbs. GVW with a maximum 30 passenger capacity, and a GVW of less than 14,500 lbs. as a Type B.