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Consultants: 56% of Eden routes feasible for electric buses today; 11 routes can’t yet be converted
Summary
A NYSERDA-supported fleet electrification study presented to the Eden board found 56% of evaluated routes could be served by current battery-electric buses, while 11 routes could not be completed with today's buses; consultants recommended phased conversion and noted manufacturer-size constraints.
Consultants working with NYSERDA told the Eden Central School District board that, based on a conservative route analysis, a majority of the district’s routes could be met by battery-electric school buses available today but a subset of runs cannot yet be electrified.
"We evaluated 25 different route buses, and of those 25, it looked like 56% of those could be completed with an electric school bus of today's market and 11 of them could not be completed," project manager Katie Ekholm said, explaining the team used worst-case winter driving assumptions, heater use and battery degradation to produce conservative feasibility results. Ekholm said the district’s current fleet preferences (notably Thomas buses) influenced recommendations: some routes would require larger battery models not yet available from Thomas, which could force the district to either accept multiple manufacturers or wait for larger Thomas models.
Consultants noted that one route is unlikely to be served by battery-electric buses within the 2035 mandate and that several others are constrained today by distance and battery size. The presentation recommended carrying conservative allowances for buses that are not yet commercially available into cost and load estimates while phasing conversions.
