The four electric buses that Twin Cedars Community School District applied for an Environmental Protection Agency Grant in December of 2021 have arrived. 

The district received $1.5 million through the grant for the buses and an additional $80,000 for charging stations. Twin Cedars incurred a cost of $50,000 to upgrade their electric service through MidAmerican Energy, but through investments, the district was able to pay for upgrades. Twin Cedars picked up the electric buses from the dealership in Des Moines earlier this month, but Superintendent Scott Bridges says that they won’t be able to be operated until after January 30th.

“We got our chargers installed and all ready to go and we had our buses delivered, and then the chargers would not charge our buses and the charging company forgot to tell us that once everything’s operational they have to come out and commission the chargers, basically program them and tell them that it’s time to charge now. And they didn’t communicate that to us, so we kind of figured that out on our own and then once we did, we got in contact with them, and they are sending somebody out, it’ll be January 30th that they’re going to be here, and the get the chargers commissioned and we can get them on the road after that.”

Hear more about the electric buses at Twin Cedars Schools on today’s In Touch with South Central Iowa.