America's coldest state has the 'hottest school bus on the market'
Batteries and cold weather don't typically go together, but one transportation service is testing the limit.
Tok Transportation operates buses for the Alaska Gateway School District and is co-owned by Gerald "Stretch" Blackard, who told AccuWeather National Reporter Emmy Victor that the company bought an electric school bus to test the machine out in the country's coldest state.
"In general, batteries and cold weather don't go together. Any kind of batteries," Blackard said. "So I saw a bit of a challenge there. I wanted to take the plunge and see if it could work."
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The lowest temperature recorded in Alaska was 80 degrees below zero at Prospect Creek on Jan. 23, 1971. The high temperature that day was 64 degrees below zero. The lowest temperature recorded in Tok, Alaska, came close to the state's record low in 2009 when it reached 78 degrees below zero, according to NPR. Data from National Weather Service on Tok doesn't begin until 2010, and the lowest in the span of 2010 to 2022 was in December 2012 when the temperature dropped to 58 degrees below zero.
Despite the bitter cold, Blackard told Victor that the electric bus has been able to trudge through temperatures that fall below zero.
"I think the lowest recording I have is -48," Blackard said. "We've been lucky enough that the -50 and -60-degree days have been on weekends this year, so we haven't had to drive it in those colder conditions yet."
He had first started looking into electric school buses back in 2018 and even went to a conference in Kansas City, where he was able to test drive one of them. Now, his company has one of their very own.
The $400,000 bus built by Thomas Built Buses in North Carolina cost Blackard $50,000, the rest of the bill footed by a program administered by the Alaska Energy Authority, according to the Alaska Public Radio.
The vehicle is charged via solar panels and is kept indoors to keep the battery warm when it doesn't have to brave the frigid weather. The solar-energy panels only generate half of the electricity needed to charge the bus's battery, however, meaning Tok Transportation needs to buy the rest from the local utility, he told Alaska Public Media in November 2021.
He added that he was sharing the data he collected with the energy authority, Alaska Center for Energy and Power at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Silicon Valley-based battery manufacturer Protera and Thomas Built Buses. He also shares the data with nonprofits operated by Alaskans who are also enthusiastic about renewable energy.
It's not all smooth driving, however. Blackard said his main concern was keeping the interior of the bus warm, as there's a lot of the interior to heat up.
"Trying to keep that warm at the -30, -40, -50-degree level is a challenge, even on a diesel bus," he said.
The school district location and mileage of the bus have also posed a challenge, as the nearest dealership is 200 miles away, according to Blackard. The bus can only go 135 miles before it needs to recharge.
As for the kids who take the bus to school, Blackard said that while some could care less, it's brought smiles to the faces of others, "especially the ones who love cars."
Reporting by AccuWeather National Reporter Emmy Victor.
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