Mid Michigan Schools Are Betting Big on Electric Buses and Ignoring Hard Lessons From Elsewhere

Mid Michigan school districts including Kearsley Community Schools are moving ahead with electric and alternative fuel buses using state grant money, but districts in other states already tried this, ran into bankrupt manufacturers, voided warranties, cold weather failures, and buses sitting unused, raising the question of why Michigan districts are repeating a costly experiment that has already gone wrong elsewhere.

The Michigan Department of Education just awarded millions of dollars in Clean Bus Energy grants, with Kearsley set to receive nearly 1.2 million dollars to replace diesel buses with electric or propane models. The program is being promoted as environmentally friendly, and Gretchen Whitmer praised the effort as a way to keep air cleaner around schools. What is not being discussed is that many districts across the country already went down this road and later discovered it was not a good fit, especially in cold weather states.

In Maine, electric school buses were pulled from service after malfunctions and failed inspections, including heating and safety issues during winter conditions. In Maryland, a large school district’s electric bus rollout collapsed under delivery delays and contract problems, forcing the district to buy diesel buses anyway just to keep routes running. Even worse, when a major electric school bus manufacturer went through bankruptcy and restructuring, warranties for hundreds of buses were voided, leaving school districts stuck with high dollar vehicles and limited service options.

Electric buses cost two to three times more than diesel buses and rely on batteries that lose range in cold weather, exactly the conditions Mid Michigan deals with every winter. Heating the cabin pulls power from the same battery used to drive the bus, cutting range and increasing downtime. When manufacturers struggle or go under, districts cannot easily turn to third party mechanics because parts, software, and battery systems are often proprietary.

Propane buses avoid some cold weather problems but still come with fuel supply risks, infrastructure costs, and price volatility during winter heating season. Diesel buses, while not trendy, remain reliable, widely serviceable, and predictable in cold climates, with a mature resale market and a workforce already trained to maintain them.

Instead of using grant money to chase unproven technology, districts could have spent those funds maintaining their current fleets, extending service life, and replacing aging buses with new diesel models that work in Michigan winters and do not depend on fragile supply chains or struggling manufacturers.

With other school districts already paying the price for rushing into electric buses, should Mid Michigan schools slow down and ask whether this is really about helping students or about chasing a green policy that history is already showing does not work here?