The World Resource Institute’s (WRI) Electric School Bus Initiative released the first Electric School Bus (ESB) training standards. These standards cover vehicle operation, safety, maintenance, technology, and troubleshooting.

The ESB training standards define learning objectives and outcomes for people who interact with ESBs.

The WRI also has a new ESB program designed to help school districts adopt electric school buses.

Putting Together the Standards

More than 50 industry experts have peer reviewed the training standards. These include staff from school districts, manufacturers, and subject matter experts.

“The ESB Training Standards were conceptualized during discussions with our Manufacturing and Supply Chain Steering Committee, collaboration with CALSTART’s Industry Electric School Bus Working Group and conversations with stakeholders across the student transportation sector,” Stephanie Ly, senior manager at WRI’s Electric School Bus Initiative told School Bus Fleet. “We partnered with other non-profit organizations and identified challenges and recommendations for ESB training, which the lack of standardized training was a key issue.”

WRI led efforts to draft the training standards, consulting and adapting electric vehicle standards. They also looked at learning outcomes from different sectors and organizations, including the American Public Transportation Association, National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, Electronics Technicians Association International, and Electric Vehicle Standards Council.

Information from the WRI’s Electric School Bus Initiative was also utilized to create the training standards, as well as Weber State University’s Advanced Industry Training for Electric Vehicles course.

Applying the Standards to Training

The ESB training standards are meant to help school districts, trainers and instructors develop training programs for anyone interacting with ESBs including bus riders, drivers, technicians, fleet managers, and first responders.

“We envision school districts and school bus operators to utilize these standards when creating training curricula or checking whether important concepts are covered by training providers. The ESB training standards outlines a fundamental set of knowledge with each specific standard representing a learning objective or outcome,” says Ly.

Ly added, “We also envision equity principles to be embedded into all ESB training with support for people with differing abilities, historically excluded workers, multi-lingual staff, and diverse representation to ensure a just transition to ESBs.”

Feedback and Updates

As EBS technology and training approaches change over time, WRI is encouraging feedback from users. As feedback is collected through email and direct discussions with stakeholders, the WRI may release an updated version of the ESB training standards.

The training standards can be found on the Electric School Bus Initiative’s website, along with additional information about ESBs.