Second round of electric buses delayed for Manassas schools; concerns raised about vendor reliability

The second round of electric buses that was set to join Manassas City Public Schools’ fleet is delayed until November, school division officials told the School Board Tuesday.

The school system phased in three electric buses in the 2023-24 school year and planned to add three more this year, which began on Monday. An additional six buses are planned for the 2025-26 school year.

But the three electric buses that were supposed to be delivered this summer were delayed due to a shortage of a part that affects the vehicle’s battery chargers.

Deputy Superintendent Craig Gfeller said the buses are now expected to be delivered toward the end of November. Gfeller said the absence of the new buses will not be an issue in terms of transporting students, as the school system still has a “full fleet.”

Currently, Gfeller said, the nearly 8,000-student school division has a total fleet size of 67 buses, including both electric and diesel-fueled buses.

Gfeller noted the three delayed buses have not yet been paid for, so there has been no cost incurred by the school division yet.

School Board member Sara Brescia expressed concern about the delay, primarily because the contractor the school division is using – Highland Electric Fleets – is the same one Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland uses. Recent reporting found the Montgomery County school division was forced to spend more than $14 million to purchase more diesel buses because, after spending millions of dollars in a contract with Highland Electric Fleets, the company repeatedly failed to hit delivery deadlines and make timely repairs.

Montgomery County Public Schools is significantly larger than Manassas City Public Schools, with roughly 160,000 students. Consequently, the Maryland school division invested in a much larger fleet of electric buses.

Brescia said she worried that if the company was failing to meet standards and deliver on the terms negotiated in its contract with Montgomery County schools, then Manassas – as a smaller division – might be low on the company’s priority list.

Gfeller said the school division included in its contract with the vendor two ways to exit or end the contract. The school division currently has the electric buses on a 15-year lease contract and, ultimately, there are a variety of considerations to take into account regarding the division’s contract with the electric bus vendor.

“Terminating the contract is not necessarily cheaper or easier than continuing with the contract,” Brescia said, with Gfeller agreeing.

The school division will come back to the School Board at some point to present a breakdown of the various options it has moving forward with the contract.

Gfeller added some good news to his update, noting the school division is expecting a rebate check soon as a result of its investment in electric buses. The vendor received a green energy grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, and the school division will be receiving a portion of that money totaling around $100,000, according to the deputy superintendent.