Fairfax School District To Purchase First Electric School Buses

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County Public Schools will be one of the school districts part of the first deployment of electric school buses in Virginia as part of a Dominion Energy initiative. The school district will receive funding assistance to purchase eight electric school buses.

FCPS was one of 16 districts chosen to receive the first phase of electric school buses by the end of 2020. Dominion Energy's vendor Thomas Built Buses will provide the 50 buses for the first phase.

Dominion Energy will cover the cost difference so school districts are only paying what they would for diesel buses. The utility company will also subsidize the cost of the needed charging infrastructure.

The school district, the largest in Virginia, has a fleet of 1,625 diesel-fueled buses. The electric school bus purchase follows the district's School Board Policy 8542, which emphasizes "innovative and cost effective" practices to address human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

"Before this new partnership, the availability of electric school buses was very limited and cost was prohibitive for school divisions," said Superintendent Scott Brabrand in a statement. "This exciting new Dominion Energy initiative is moving us forward and is making electric school buses a reality."

The other school divisions chosen to receive electric school buses in the first phase are Alexandria, Arlington, Charles City, Chesapeake, Chesterfield, Hampton, Louisa, Middlesex, Norfolk, Pittsylvania, Powhatan, Prince William, Richmond City, Virginia Beach and Waynesboro.

The second phase of the electric school bus initiative would require state approval. Dominion Energy seeks to bring 1,000 additional electric school buses online by 2025. The third phase would be to have 50 percent of all diesel buses replaced in Dominion Energy's service area by 2025 and 100 percent by 2030.