School districts across the state voted Tuesday on whether or not to add electric vehicle school buses to their fleet, and the results have been mixed.

In Broome County, the Johnson City Central School District has already had an electric school bus for more than a year — and it’s adding more. The district says, after working through some learning curves, it’s happy to have made the purchase.

EV buses have plenty of pros and cons. Some of the many benefits are obvious: they reduce emissions and are more sustainable in the long-run, and after an initial (albeit somewhat expensive) investment, they could even help the district cut back on maintenance costs.

Smaller benefits include a quiet ride, helping the driver to stay less distracted and kids less stimulated. The bus also stays cooler in the summer thanks to less heat being put off from the engine. There’s also the added benefit of not smelling like diesel fuel from fumes getting into the cabin.

But there’s a reason why some districts across the state voted against going electric.

The initial investment can be quite expensive, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, as well as requiring infrastructure upgrades and additional driver training. 

Some districts have reported EV buses not being able to complete their routes due to charging issues.

Elizabeth Fox, the Johnson City CSD director of auxiliary services, says that even in cold weather, there have been no issues with range capacity and says the bus has been able to do complete routes — something she attributes to driver training and working through a learning curve.

“We’ve seen no issues with our range, and part of that is the driver training, making sure that we’re getting all the energy back from the regenerative breaking,” Fox explained. “And so, a lot of that is driver performance.”

According to the New York State School Boards Association, voters are approving diesel buses at a much higher percentage than electric buses, which would impact a district’s ability to restock their fleets with these electric buses by the 2035 state-mandated deadline.