Thanks to Grant, Three Electric Buses Part of Osseo Schools’ Fleet

The Minnesota Pollution and Control Agency provided more than two million dollars in grants to help purchase eight electric school buses across the state.  Osseo Area Schools will have three of those buses in service.

The pilot project will help MPCA gather information about buses performance and reliability.

“These buses do have regenerative braking, so we can recover some of that energy in the route and that’s one of the reasons why school transportation does make sense,” said Nick Martini, transportation coordinator at Osseo Area Schools. “We are a stop-and-go business. We are picking up kids, so we are on the brakes a lot, so regeneration is a real possibility.”

MPCA says the buses will reduce GHG emission by 1,120 tons over their lifetime. It will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“You cannot hear this bus and due to that fact, it actually plays music when it comes down to 10, 15 mph. So that as the bus approaches the students, the students can actually hear the bus coming” said Chelaine Crego, terminal manager for Northstar Bus Lines. Northstar will service the three Osseo buses.

Students are already using the new buses.

To learn more about the grants, click here.