As many of you know, in an effort to promote environmental and fiscal responsibility, the Yarmouth School Department (YSD) received two electric (EV) buses in the fall of 2023 at zero cost to the taxpayers of Yarmouth.
These buses were obtained through the annual bus replacement program of the Maine Department of Education, which allowed for the buses to be purchased from Lion Manufacturing with no impact to the YSD operating or capital improvement budgets.
Unfortunately, the buses have been problematic from their earliest days in our fleet. The manufacturer's inability to provide stable, consistent service resulted in the buses being on the road for less than four weeks, total, over the past two school years. Fortunately, the services that were provided were covered under Lion's warranty, resulting in no cost to the Yarmouth School Department.
Earlier this year, Lion declared Canada's version of bankruptcy. They will no longer be servicing these buses, nor will the bus warranty be honored. This leaves us with two new EV buses that are not operating.
In a bit of good news, in June we received a check for $100,000 as part of the IRS's EV rebate program. While this money does not cover the cost of a new bus, it does benefit the district financially and place us in a budget-positive position regarding the buses, as the only costs incurred by YSD were approximately $36,000 to build EV infrastructure at the town garage (infrastructure that will be used for future EV vehicles) and $25,000 for the consultancy and documentation that led to the IRS rebate.
At this time, we are having the buses evaluated by local EV bus service providers. After their analysis is completed, we will be deciding how best to proceed. Options include selling the buses at a steep discount (further adding to our budget-positive position) or seeking low-cost repairs, if possible, to place the buses back on the road safely.
Regardless of which decision is made with these buses, Yarmouth Schools will continue to search for the best way to further our goal of being environmentally responsible as we replace units within our transportation fleet.