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September 22 through October 1 is National Drive Electric Week - a nationwide celebration to raise awareness of the many benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more.
In case you missed our article over the summer, HSD now has two electric school buses in its fleet! The electric bus purchases were made possible by a $250,000 award from Portland General Electric’s (PGE) Electric School Bus Fund (ESBF) in September 2021, and a $1 million award from the State of Oregon, as well as other grants, rebates, and money that had been earmarked for this purpose.
The EBSF is supported by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s Clean Fuels Program (CFP). CFP credits are aggregated by PGE on behalf of residential customers who charge their electric vehicles at home, then sold to endow the ESBF. The ESBF then makes awards to school districts to cover the incremental cost of electric school buses and the total cost to install charging infrastructure.
Through a separate partnership with the City of Hillsboro, the Hillsboro School District benefited from State funding to support eight electric vehicle charging stations at the Administration Center back in November 2018. The funds had been received by Oregon as part of a diesel emissions settlement with Volkswagen, and because the Hillsboro City Council had made expanded charging opportunities for EVs a priority for their 2018 agenda, they actively pursued funding for our community. Between Jan. 1, 2022 and Jul. 31, 2023 alone, the stations delivered 17,099 kWh of electricity to EV and hybrid vehicles, which is the equivalent of 832 gallons of gasoline and 7.4 metric tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) avoided. (Source: EPA.gov)
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