BIGFORK — The Bigfork School District has a new fully electric school bus up and running thanks to a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The 71-seat Lion Electric school bus is fully funded through the Clean School Bus Grant allowing the school district to purchase the new $375,000 bus at no expense to taxpayers.
Bigfork School District Transportation Director Danny Walker said the bus comes equipped with seat belts and has been in service for three weeks on both morning and afternoon routes.
Walker said the electric school bus only uses roughly $4 a day in electricity compared to $20 a day in diesel for a regular school bus.
He noted Bigfork is the only school district in Northwest Montana with a fully electric school bus.
“It does approximately 32 miles a day, it’s a 100-mile battery, but just because it’s a 100-mile battery doesn’t mean we could only do a 100 miles — you can exceed 100 miles because it has regenerative braking at the same time, it recharges the batteries while you’re slowing down,” said Walker.
Walker said they charge the school bus daily and will soon be using it for field trips and sporting events.
