BALTIMORE — Yellow buses lined up at the Baltimore City Transportation Office, looking like all other city school buses except for one thing, these buses are electric.
Baltimore City was awarded $9.4 million from the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus Program.
Adding 25 new electric school buses to the fleet to bring cleaner transportation.
"Many of us grew up with school buses with diesel engines, they're terrible polluters, although the industry has cleaned it up a little bit, nothing is as clean as an electric school bus,” said Adam Ortiz, U.S. EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator.
Something fifth grader Lesly Guardado can attest to when she rides the bus.
"When I get on the bus I smell gasoline and sometimes I feel like the smell is just kind of nasty,” said Guardado, fifth grader at Graceland Park- O’Donnell Heights Elementary Middle School.
Now, she's part of the conservation club at school, starting at a young age to fight against pollution. She and a few other fifth graders were ready to check out the new wheels.
"We're trying to get more people involved on the green team so it could be all of the world and for the animals. It means a lot for me,” said Guardado.
"It's an honor to be here with everybody else and to talk about why it's important for the environment and why it's important for earth to be healthy,” said Joseph Powell, fifth grader at Graceland Park- O’Donnell Heights Elementary Middle School.
The new electric buses will serve 350 students per day, CEO for Baltimore City Public Schools Dr. Sonja Santelises said the routes will be at a variety of schools prioritizing special needs students.
"It will make for quieter rides and frankly safer for some of our most vulnerable kids who have Asma and other types of breathing elements,” said Dr. Santelises.
City schools partnered with Highland Fleets, the leading provider of school bus fleet electrification as a service. CEO Duncan McIntyre said the electric buses can run about 130 miles on a single charge.
"The drivers come in every day, they're trained to plug it in,” said McIntyre. “Then we pick it up and manage the charging middle of the day, overnight we troubleshoot issues that come up with the technology and make sure it's reliable and smooth.”
School officials said the buses will start as soon as Wednesday.
