Some Montana School Districts Will Have New Electric School Buses

Will this be a massive success or a giant disaster? Only time will tell, I suppose. 

School buses are a necessity here in Montana. Many school districts encompass rural areas where kids are spread out and don't have access to a personal vehicle to get to school. A lot of kids even ride school buses all the way through their senior year. Now, it seems like we may see some big changes with school transportation.

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The Environmental Protection Agency announced that almost $4 million of the Clean School Bus initiative will be allocated to Montana school districts. This initiative is meant to provide electric buses and transportation alternatives to school districts in order to lower greenhouse emissions, save money for schools, and create cleaner air. 

Reportedly, as of now only three Montana school districts will receive zero-emission school buses in order to test their use. These include districts in Bigfork, Fairfield, and Clinton.

This initiative makes a lot of sense for Montana communities; school buses use a lot of gas to drive kids to and from school, sometimes fairly far distances, and prices have risen over the past few years. 

One of the main concerns about the initiative is how the electric buses will handle the cold winter months. Montana is one of the worst states for electric vehicles, both because of the sparse number of charging stations and because batteries in electric vehicles die quickly in cold weather. If there is one thing about Montana we know to be true, it's that we have long, cold winters. 

Regardless, I hope the electric buses will help improve our environment and cut long-term costs for schools. School buses haven't changed in decades—it's about time they got a little facelift. 

For more details, check out EPA's announcement.