Electric Bus Learning Project

The Electric Bus Learning Project (EBLP) helps interested bus fleets in many parts of Oregon* to start electrifying. We do that with virtual learning forums, trainings, and personalized consultation including site visits.

Of Oregon’s 9,492 buses (7,492 school buses and about 2,000 public transit buses), only 25 are electric as of May 2021. The rest run on internal combustion engines, mostly diesel.

Electric buses cost less to fuel and maintain. With no tailpipe emissions, they are healthy for passengers, drivers, climate and communities alike. But e-buses cost a lot up front, and it’s hard work for a fleet to electrify (the pandemic has already made the work of bus fleets harder). The EBLP supplies information, support and a learning community. Fleets that participate become well prepared for the funding opportunities that are emerging.

See below for EBLP’s past events and speakers, and upcoming events and speakers.

*Because EBLP is funded by Pacific Power’s Electric Mobility Fund, it serves bus fleets in that utility’s territory, which includes but is not limited to many parts of Central and Southern Oregon, Corvallis, Albany, Pendleton, Astoria, Seaside, etc.

Oregon Electric School Bus Tour

Mid May 2021

Join us as we bring you Oregon’s 1st Electric Bus tour! Transportation managers, drivers, school board members and more will have the opportunity to join in these Covid friendly Ride and Drive stops.

Drive or ride in a Lion-c Fully Electric school bus
At some sites we will be able to put the bus on a lift and learn more about how it works
Lean more from ESB experts and other districts that have started their fleet electrification process.

Contact us to learn more.

Upcoming Learning Opportunities

Electric Bus 101 Learning Forum

Wednesday, May 19th 10AM

Didn’t make it to the electric bus tour, or want do dive in further? Electric Bus 101 is for bus fleets new or fairly new to electrifying their fleet. It’s presented by Center for Transportation and the Environment, which has led the deployment of (and helped land the funding for) 364 electric buses over the past eight years. This includes an overview of the technology in electric buses, understanding batteries and how to think about electricity as a fuel.

Meet Our Team

Alison Wiley

Alison Wiley is the Project Manager of the EEE project. She has been a transportation professional for 15 years, with a focus on electric buses and equity for the last five years. In her ten years at the Public Transit Division of the Oregon Department of Transportation she worked largely in Southwest Oregon, supporting transit agencies both rural and urban. Alison is the founder of the Electric Bus Newsletter, written to help bus fleets make the transition to electric. She instigated and led the Electric School Bus webinar series in 2020 when she worked for Center for Transportation and the Environment. Alison likes to sing folk songs, chat with people of all ages, run in wildish places and climb the occasional mountain. Alison holds an M.S. in Counseling Psychology and a B.A. in Sociology

Neil Baunsgard

Neil Baunsgard is the Project Coordinator and Administrator of the EEE project. He has been working in transportation electrification, corporate sustainability and energy efficiency for the past 8 years. Neil’s work at The Environmental Center has directly supported a local school district through a successful grant application and pilot school bus electrification project. When he’s not geeking out about transportation electrification, you can find him trail running, skiing, or working on a deep energy retrofit on his home. Neil has a degree in environmental economics and energy policy from Western Washington University.

Claudia Brand

Claudia Brand is an Associate at CTE. They assist engineers and project managers with a variety of technical and administrative tasks related to clean transportation analysis and deployment, including battery-electric powered vehicles and hydrogen fuel powered vehicles. They also perform route analysis, vehicle modeling and simulation, and rate modeling activities to determine the feasibility of alternate fuel vehicles for client applications. Prior to joining CTE, Claudia worked as a Teaching and Research Assistant at the University of Chile. Claudia holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Chile.

Claudia Brand

Erik Bigelow

Erik Bigelow is a Senior Engineering Consultant and the Director of Midwest Operations leading the CTE office in St. Paul, MN. Mr. Bigelow is the senior CTE staff member responsible for many advanced transportation projects, including battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles, and has been focused on successfully implementing zero emission transit for over 10 years. In addition, he leads CTE’s efforts in Key Performance Indicator reporting across CTE’s portfolio of projects and is central to CTE’s engineering analysis efforts for large-scale fleet deployment simulation and other analysis initiatives. Mr. Bigelow holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Equity and Electric Buses

Disadvantaged populations, in particular, depend on buses to get to school, work and other destinations. This means they have high exposure to the exhaust fumes that harm health, while also having low access to health care. The EBLP especially seeks to serve these populations. Our resources include this demographics website, our involvement in the nationwide Electric School Bus Coalition led by Chispa, and the statement issued by the Board of the Oregon Department of Education in support of Black Lives Matter. Please read more and engage with us in our Commitment to Equity.

This project is supported by Pacific Power and the Oregon Clean Fuels Program