Lancaster school leaders hear NYSERDA‑approved plan outlining steps, costs to electrify bus fleet

Lancaster Central School District trustees received a presentation from district staff and Wendell consultants on the district’s NYSERDA‑reviewed zero‑emission school bus transition plan, which maps a phased approach to convert Lancaster’s fleet to buses powered by electric motors or hydrogen fuel cells to meet New York State timelines.

The plan, presented by Jamie Phillips of the district and consultants from Wendell — John Amarillo (principal in charge and director of alternative fuels), Katie Efrem (project manager, energy engineer) and Dante Gucci (technical lead) — lays out assumptions, route feasibility, utility impacts, infrastructure phasing and estimated costs.

The study found Lancaster’s existing population of roughly 90 buses (82 route buses, plus contracted vehicles) could largely be converted with current battery technology: approximately 79% of routes are feasible in the study’s “worst‑case” winter conditions. The consultants identified 17 routes that cannot be completed today by battery electric buses under the study’s conservative assumptions (full passenger loads, extreme cold, 15 minutes preheating, battery degradation to 90% of nameplate capacity and a further 11% safety factor).

Wendell modeled hour‑by‑hour energy demand for the district’s worst month and concluded that, without management, the connected charger load would be large — on the order of several megavolt‑amperes — likely pushing the site into medium‑voltage service (the consultants’ conservative estimate was about…