PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The Pinellas County School District is preparing to swap some of its diesel school buses for electric ones. 

One of the district’s bus yards, The Walter Pownall Services Center, is already equipped with 20 electric charging stations for the new buses that should start coming this December. 

They were purchased with grant money from the state’s share of a 2016 settlement between Volkswagen and the U.S. Department of Justice over emissions violations. 

Right now, the school district has over 300 buses in their fleet, with some dating back to 2003. The oldest buses will be cycled out and replaced with the electric ones. 

“We’re looking forward to hopefully some maintenance savings and, of course, we won’t have oil changes as we do in the diesel buses,” explained head technician Brian Lowe. 

The district is also anticipating operational savings, but doesn’t have an estimate on just how much that will be. 

The grant covers 75% of the cost of an electric school bus, which runs roughly $400,000. The average diesel bus costs between $100,000 - $130,000, depending on the make and model. 

Lowe says he’s looking forward to being one of the first districts in the state to start making the switch to electric. 

“It’ll be interesting to see this new technology and to experience it firsthand as we continue to learn and grow as we try to reduce emissions in the district,” he said. 

School districts in Broward, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach and Sarasota will also be getting a portion of the grant money and new electric school buses in their fleet.