Lake Tahoe Unified School District and Liberty unveil new electric buses and infrastructure

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Have you heard (or actually, not heard) the new electric school buses in South Lake Tahoe? The new electric fleet for Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) was officially unveiled this week, along with the charging infrastructure installed inside the bus garages in South Lake Tahoe.

There are now five electric buses, with 15 more coming through a grant process that school officials expect to come through. LTUSD still has 21 diesel buses that will be phased out in the coming years in hopes of all regular routes being with electric buses - though some diesel buses will stay for long-distance trips, for the time being.

Of the four new buses, two are long Bluebird T3RE and two are MircoBird short buses. LTUSD received the buses two months ago but has been working out the "hiccups," according to Dave Zebo, the LTUSD director of facilities and transportation.

Eleven regular school bus routes and three special education bus routes are now covered by electric buses. The buses have been tested on all hilly roads in South Lake Tahoe, including Keller Road.

"They drive well around town," said Coral Lathrop, the LTUSD Transportation and Mechanics supervisor.

Other states can use combustion heat to warm up electric buses, but they are illegal in California so Lathrop and her team heat them with the chargers inside the garage.

The bus drivers will use the four hours between the morning and afternoon routes to charge the buses. They can get to 100 percent charged during that span.

Zebo said the garage has four bays with two chargers per pay.

Liberty has installed dedicated electric service at the bus garage on Al Tahoe Blvd. - 300 kVA outside that feeds the charging stations inside the garage. Matt Newberry, Key Account Manager for Liberty said grants have been available from the California Public Utilities Commission, as well as through the North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District. North Coast and LTUSD created a partnership through the Rural School Bus Pilot Program Project that allows for fleet expansion of zero-emission battery electric or fuel cell buses.

LTUSD Superintendent Dr. Todd Cutler said the school board has committed to target a level of sustainability.

"We may stumble along the way," said Cutler, discussing the new focus.

Staff said the District is looking forward to savings on diesel fuel and continued incentives on the buses and their infrastructure needs.

Newberry said other school districts in the region may only have one or two electric buses so far, so LTUSD is well into the mix of the transformation to electric, no minor feat.

In the photo above: L-R: Todd Cutler, David Gantzer, Matt Newberry, Coral Lathrop, David Zebo, and Kurt Althof.