Morrisonville CUSD #1 is excited to announce that they have received a $790,000 grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to purchase 2 electric school buses.
Morrisonville School District worked with Lion Electric out of Joliet, Illinois to complete the application process this past summer. The award announcement news arrived in late October that Morrisonville had been selected.
The new electric buses will be able to go 125 miles per charge and it will take less than 7 hours to fully recharge the batteries. The new buses will have both air conditioning and heating throughout. This was very important to Patrick Murphy, Morrisonville Interim Superintendent, because in Central Illinois there is a need for both air conditioning and heat on a bus throughout the course of a school year. The new electric buses will be used on daily routes for the Morrisonville School District.
Morrisonville CUSD #1 expects the delivery of the new buses before the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. The district is currently working on receiving electrical bids to install the new charging stations on the bus garage. The electrical stations are also paid for by the grant.
Morrisonville School District is proud to be leading the way in Central Illinois with replacing diesel engine school buses with the cleaner alternative electric buses. Morrisonville School District also expects to save a significant amount of money on fuel costs in the upcoming years.