Board unanimously allows six EV chargers for school buses at Thunderbird Road depot

The Lawrence Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously granted a petition on Dec. 16 to allow six electric vehicle chargers within the required setback at First Student’s 5850 Thunderbird Road bus depot. The chargers will serve up to 10 electric school buses as part of a phased conversion from fossil-fuel buses.

Alex Cook, chief engineer for First Student, said the company plans to locate 10 electric buses at the depot and install six chargers, noting that some chargers will serve two buses through extension cords. "We are on a journey to deploy electric school buses across this great nation of ours," Cook told the board, describing charging equipment the size of a refrigerator that will sit behind Jersey-barrier ballasts and near an AES transformer already serving the site.

Cook and staff described operational practices to limit grid impacts: First Student will use a charge-management system to delay heavy charging until lower-demand hours (for example, beginning at about 9 p.m.) and to manage maximum power draw. Cook said the company aims to avoid creating large system demand and to manage costs and reliability for its customer, Indianapolis Public Schools.

City public-works staff told the board the zoning code allows temporary equipment for 18 months with an additional 180-day extension (24 months total) and that the city does not object to a longer-term encroachment in the setback so long as equipment remains off the right-of-way. Common Council member Liz Mazur and staff voiced support, and the board voted unanimously to grant the variance.

The board’s action allows First Student to install the six ballasted chargers and continue its pilot deployment of electric buses at the Thunderbird Road facility; First Student signaled plans to expand deployments over time.