A government grant of $3.2 million will purchase electric school buses for Billings School District 2 this coming school year in partnership with First Student, the district’s transportation contractor. The grant, through the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will cover the cost of purchasing the buses and constructing the charging infrastructure.

According to reports the cost of an electric school bus is about $400,000 – about four times the cost of a diesel school bus.

Public schools are claiming a new reasoning, besides a threat of global warming, for using electric vehicles. They are concerned about the exposure to diesel exhaust for children. They point out that diesel exhaust is a known carcinogen, to which children are being exposed on a daily basis.

The electric school bus has no exhaust to be concerned about.

Havre School District used electric school buses last year, to high acclaim. Not even cold weather was a detriment, they reported. Apparently, researchers are finding ways to enable EVs to deal with the cold. A system, called e-Thermal bank, is separate from the main EV battery and combines a chemical heat pump with microwave energy to produce heating or cooling on demand. Researchers estimate that the e-Thermal bank can deliver a range extension of up to 70% at a cost that is less than expanding battery capacity.

Billings is apparently getting the federal funds to buy the buses because Billings is included in a federal “Clean Cities program”. Billings and other Montana cities, as well as communities in Idaho and Wyoming are part of a special region called Yellowstone-Teton Clean Cities or YTCC’s.

YTCC functions as the Department of Energy’s on-the-ground advocate focused on petroleum displacement activities in the Greater Yellowstone Region. YTCC’s mission is to reduce consumption of traditional petroleum-based fuels in the three- state region; encourage and expand the use of alternative fuels, and advanced vehicle technologies by promoting other transportation options.

 Other than YTCC, the Clean Cities Program has about 90 communities targeted.

Other cities included in YTCC are Bozeman, Big Sky, West Yellowstone and others surrounding Yellowstone Park – – as the federal government is making an effort make the greater Yellowstone Region the focus of a petroleum displacement area.

Many of the cities are getting funds to build electric charging stations.