The Saskatchewan Rivers School District is officially going electric, becoming the first in the province to receive an electric school bus.
The new electric bus will provide transportation for Red Wing School students north of Prince Albert. Although not an official pilot project, the district is looking to see how the bus fairs in Prairie weather.
Per the Manager of Transportation Services for the district, Ryan Bruce:
There is a lot of talk about electric vehicles. They are coming. They are getting more common, and the day is going to come when there is going to be some talk about why don’t we have electric school buses. We will have that knowledge to say, “here is what we found. Here is how they operate in Saskatchewan. (via Prince Albert Daily Herald)
This specific route was chosen as it is a rural and suburban route with a variety of highway and city-like driving. The bus supplier, Western Canadian Bus Sales, provided the district with battery range and other data to help select the route.
The school district is still setting up their maintenance team and yard to deal with the new electric bus. This includes training for staff organized and paid for by Western Canadian and installing an EV charger to keep the bus moving.
The district has no plans to electrify its school bus fleet anytime soon, but the data from the EV bus will help plan future procurement.
