BEST Framework
The BEST (Bus Electrification for School Transportation) framework allows for easy comparison of electric school buses and fossil fuel buses. It automatically produces graphical charts of Total Cost of Ownership and Cumulative Carbon Savings. It also serves as a repository of resources to convince School officials, transportation staff and the voting public about the benefits of electric school buses in a quantified manner.
See the “Intro” tab for instructions on how to use this framework.
Email us if you have any problems or questions or feedback.
Version history:
| v1.1 | 5/23/2021 | Initial version, included charger costs and subsidy thereof |
| v1.2 | 5/23/2021 | Bug fixes, better defaults |
| v1.3 | 5/24/2021 | Added data validation and locking of sheets + option to show tax levy per household |
| v1.4 | 5/25/2021 | Fixed bugs, improved documentation |
| v1.5 | 6/5/2021 | Allowed fuel and maintenance costs to be per mile or per year; added “Release notes” tab; removed 19% discount for NY electricity carbon |
| v1.6 | 6/20/2021 | Added support for inflation and Net Present Value calculations |
| v1.7 | 7/22/2021 | Added support for Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) annual revenue |
| v1.8 | 3/18/2022 | Fixed bug in V2G calculations in the per-household cost display option |
Recent Articles
- Article in the Croton Gazette, April 14, 2022, about the success of a Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) pilot with Lion electric school buses in White Plains.
- Boston to replace (700) school buses with electric ones by 2030, starting with 20 buses this year, Associated Press, April 7, 2022.
- Electric school buses are reaching cost parity with diesel, and a California district will deploy one of the largest e-bus fleets in the state, Electrek article by Scooter Doll, March 18, 2022.
Introductory material
- The Case for Electric School Buses, 2-page colorful brochure from Vermont Energy Investment Corp.
- The Case for Electric School Buses, courtesy of Transfinder
- Paying for Electric Buses, Financing Tools for Cities and Agencies to Ditch Diesel, Matt Casale and Brendan Mahoney, U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Fall 2018
- Clean Bus Guide published by the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund
- Speaking Up for Electric School Buses, Jennifer Wallace-Brodeur of VEIC, School Transportation Online, June 2019
- School Districts Rolling Out Electric Buses as Economics Improve: ‘It’s Time to Switch’, Justin Gerdes, Greentech Media, November 2018
- Vermont Energy Investment Corp’s fact sheet on electric school bus models, last updated year-end 2019
- Croton100 presentation on electric school bus issues at Care for Creation Ministry, January 2021, click here to view recording
- Croton100 presentation to the Croton Bus Electrification Task Force, December 2020
Studies and experiences in various school districts
- Accelerating the Transition to Electric School Buses, PIRG Report, February 2021
- The Wheels on These Buses Go Round and Round With Zero Emissions, Brad Plumer, New York Times, November 2018 (report on use of electric school buses in White Plains)
- Making the Case, Student Transportation News, October 2020
- School Bus Emissions, student health performance and academic performance, Wes Austin, Garth Heutel, Daniel Kreisman, Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, March 2019
- Two commentaries on the above scholarly work: Brookings and Chicago Policy Review
- Notes on National Conference on Sustainable Development “Electric School Bus Toolkit” webinar, Patty L. Buchanan, May 27, 2020
- White Plains Electric School Bus V2G Project, April 30, 2020, by Ari Kahn, Con Edison
- Facts About the Croton School District’s Mischaracterization of the White Plains School District’s (WPSD) Experience with Electric Buses
