Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

California School District to Install Charging Stations

  • By Matt Jones
  • 02/25/21

The Porterville Unified School District (PUSD), located in Tulare County, California, recently placed an order for six new electric school buses. During its Board of Education meeting on Jan. 28, the district also approved plans to install six new electric charging stations.

Set to be ready by August, the ABB Terra 54 fast charging stations will be placed at a bus yard near Porterville High School. The product’s website boasts that the average charging time for a vehicle runs between 15 and 30 minutes. The district is partnering with Southern California Edison (SCE) for the installation process.

School bus

PUSD officials have expressed that their longer-term goal is to transition the entire school bus fleet to electric models. Plans are already in the works to order four more electric buses during the next decade. The move is part of a larger PUSD initiative to reduce its power costs and utility bills by taking advantage of renewable energy sources and solar panels.

According to PUSD public information officer Jason Pommier, “That’s definitely one of the things we want to do, similar to the city, reducing the carbon footprint and moving away from some of the diesel buses. We’re always looking at ways where we can reduce costs, save money and utilize it for the students.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.

  • Children walking along bright school corridor with motion blur

    How Next-Gen Design Is Reshaping the Student Experience

    The environments where students learn play a crucial role in shaping their growth in and out of the classroom. By centering design on well-being, flexibility, and purpose, districts can ensure their facilities remain vibrant community assets for many years to come.