FCPS Receives First Electric School Bus Under Dominion Grant

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County Public Schools received its first electric bus Tuesday, which was funded by a grant from Dominion Energy. The school system will add a total of eight electric school buses to its current fleet of roughly 1,625 diesel-fueled buses.

The initial rollout will see 50 buses deployed to school systems across the state by the end of the year, including in Loudoun and Prince William counties and the City of Alexandria in Northern Virginia. This is the largest such program in the U.S. Dominion hopes to deploy more electric school buses to Virginia schools in the future.

The electric Thomas-built buses will help improve air quality and reduce operation and maintenance for the school districts. Switching to an electric school bus, schools could see operation and maintenance costs reduced by 60 percent as compared to a diesel model. Electric school buses also operate at an equivalent of 17 miles per gallon, compared with the 6 mpg for diesel buses, according to Dominion.

Dominion released the following information on how electric school buses can lead to cleaner air and zero emissions:

• Replacing one diesel bus can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 54,000 pounds each year. That’s the equivalent of 3.75 pounds of carbon dioxide for every mile driven.
• The air quality inside a diesel bus is five times worse than outside the bus. Replacing a diesel bus with an electric bus significantly improves air quality for students inside the bus and for the communities served.