The temperature in Garrettson, South Dakota is -20 Fahrenheit, with wind chills down to -40. “It’s been an icebox out there,” said Guy Johnson, Garrettson School District Superintendent. 

It was a good test for the EV buses that navigate three of the district’s four bus routes. “As far as the bitter cold like this, we were pleased to find that they performed just like the manufacturer told us they would,” Johnson said. The buses lose about 20 percent of their 120-mile range, but they can still comfortably complete one of the district’s 45-mile bus routes.

Garrettson schools proudly educate almost 500 of its “Blue Dragons” in a town of about 1,200 people. “I think that we have retained the best part of rural small town South Dakota, which means that mostly our parents and our community really support us,” Johnson said. “You know most people in town, and our staff get to know the kids pretty darn well.”

Garrettson School District purchased three EV buses in 2023 with Clean School Bus Program funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. They were the only district in South Dakota to receive funding for more than two buses, and the $1.2 million grant completely covered the costs of the buses and charging stations.

Since the buses started running the Garrettson routes, the school district has saved about $10,000 annually in fuel and another $15,000 annually in maintenance, mostly by eliminating costly diesel fuel exhaust maintenance.

These savings can be put back into education. “Programs are people in education, and people cost money,” Johnson said. “If we can save $50,000 by making a few changes, that might enable us to hire an educational assistant that will work with a certain population of kids and help those kids.”

Johnson said the community initially had some “healthy skepticism” about electric vehicles, especially in chilly South Dakota winters. “We weren’t even sure if we were going to apply for the grant,” Johnson said. “We aren’t necessarily into jumping right on the first wave of any kind of new thing that comes along.”

When they were “surprised, pleasantly” to learn they had received funding for all three buses, they had an in-house expert in auto recycler and then-school board president Shannon Nordstrom. “He’s well-respected in the community in terms of all things automotive, and he was actively going through training at the time in how to dismantle electric vehicles,” Johnson said. 

Nordstrom’s support led to the school district’s approval for purchasing all three electric buses, from a Canadian company experienced in designing for harsh winters.

In their first winter, the bus drivers learned that EV buses had an unexpected advantage. Bus driver Tom Godbey reported that he was more comfortable driving electric buses than diesel, because the heavy battery pack in the center of the electric bus made for better weight distribution and winter handling than front-heavy diesel buses.

Godbey also soon learned another benefit of the electric buses. They were quiet.

“When you don’t have that diesel engine running, you can actually hear the kids,” Johnson explained. “You can hear what they’re saying.” The quiet of the buses improves security, camaraderie and the overall environment for student riders.

Bus driver Godbey passed away in October, 2024. “He knew that he was the first person from school that the kids on his bus saw, and he was also the last one that they saw,” Johnson said. “He talked about the way that it was important that they feel welcomed on the bus, and having a quieter vehicle so he could interact with them was pretty important to him.”

“That job was pretty darn important to Tom,” he continued. “Sometimes folks don’t realize, having folks who care about kids, it’s important for the kids, but it also fills something up in them as well.”