Buses discussed at Granton meeting

There are many things that need to be ironed out before the Granton School District will be able to receive the five electric buses it had been awarded through the EPA Clean Bus Rebate Grant back in November of last year. While tackling those issues, the Granton School Board decided to move ahead with the purchase of charging stations so the buses will be able to be delivered after they are assembled.

During its Feb. 13 meeting, the board held a video conference with Tim Bartels, a certified energy manager from Excel Energy, and Luke Schultz, a representative of CESA 10. The representatives talked about different areas of concern that will affect the arrival of the electric buses including adding power infrastructure, buildings, and the school budget on projects.

In his presentation, Bartels spoke about what sort of things will be needed to add charging power stations and related infrastructure to support the electric buses. Referencing a map of the north end of the high school parking lot -- an area slated to be the location of the future bus garage -- he spoke about the type of chargers and related equipment needed to supply the needs of the buses. His recommendation to the board was the purchase of a DC Level 3 charger, which is one of the newer types of charger on the market.

“Jim (Kuchta, the Granton District Administrator) and I had a couple conversations about the difference between Level 2 and Level 3 chargers,” he said. “Level 2 chargers are a single-phase charger and they are being phased out of use by bus manufacturers like Bluebird already. Level 3 is DC charging, which means it is faster charging. The biggest things that is the difference though is there is a little higher upfront cost. You would need a different cabinet, bigger conduits and conductors.”

The cost to purchase the Level 3 chargers will amount to $15,000 each, for a total cost of $75,000 for five chargers. To help reduce the upfront costs of installing the chargers, Bartels said Excel Energy has a credit system that could reduce the purchasing cost by as much as $50,000.

After talking about the costs, the board listened to Schultz present on the the district’s overall project picture. Recently, the board decided to renovate the elementary school parking lot and is also in the middle of repairing the outer brickwork of the pool building. Both of those projects have yet to receive a final cost estimate, and with the added bus garage project, he said there are a lot of financial questions that need to be answered before they make a large commitment to a bus garage.

“We have bids coming in for the pool, we have a special meeting on March 1 to discuss the metal and tuck pointing,” he said. “We have the parking lot, the bids for the pool and the bus garage. We also have some leftover ESSER funds that we could use if we wanted to.”

In addition to the financial questions, the board was also told to consider the overall timeframe for when the buses are set to arrive and the supply chain issues that could make getting a bus garage built in the near future more difficult. Kuchta said the buses are expected to be ready for delivery by the start of the 2023-24 school year, but an actual garage could be at least another year away.

“The buses will be here as early as August or September,” he said. “But they won’t deliver the buses until the charging infrastructure is in place to charge the buses. There are still supply chain issues, but to get the chargers ordered now will help us get these buses faster. They can be placed on a concrete pedestal initially and moved later on (into a garage) if we need to.”

The board decided to approve the purchase of the DC Level 3 chargers from Lion Electric and hold off on making any further decisions on a future bus garage until they have a better idea of where the district currently sits on their projects and finances. In other action taken by the board at its meeting, the board approved the purchase of a new back-up boiler for the 1998 school addition from Complete Control and approved becoming an invested member of Rural Virtual Academy for the next three years.