Red Lake School District to Add Electric Buses to Their Fleet

The Red Lake School District is adding electric school buses to their fleet thanks to a grant from Highland Electric Fleets.

The district has been in the process of adding electric school buses to their fleet for a cleaner and more efficient way of transportation. As students step onto the new buses in the future, they will soon learn that their rides will be a lot less noisy.

“It’s important to, you know, in messaging to let people know that the future, I believe, is in a more ecologically sound and friendly transportation infrastructure. And with the electric school busses, there is a lot less cost involved in the miles per gallon, if you will,” said Red Lake Superintendent Tim Lutz. “It’s a cleaner form of transportation, and it will require less maintenance down the road than a gas or diesel bus, so I think economically speaking, it’s the way to go.”

The district currently has over 20 buses, and many miles are added to them each day, with the longest route being over 30 miles. Going electric will help save money and will create less pollution.

“[We] expect that our buses will have a range of 80 to 100 miles on a battery charge. So we’ll charge, you know, in the morning, do the bus run, and then in the afternoon we can charge again and do an evening or late afternoon run. And we should be able to cover bus routes as long as they’re not really, really lengthy routes.”

After receiving the grant from Highland for the buses, the district is patiently waiting for the buses to arrive next August. In the meantime, students are learning about the positive impacts of the new electric fleet and look forward to riding in style.

“We’re going to have two buses. I feel like that’s something that was needed for the school because we don’t have nice things, you know?” said student Starr Rainey. “But I feel like it’s nice to have these new things. The students will feel more, like, welcomed.”