Small East Texas School District Adopts Fully Electric School Bus Fleet

Martinsville ISD has adopted five brand-new yellow school buses — they look like traditional school buses, but they are fueled by electricity instead of gasoline.

The buses are Blue Bird’s Vision electric buses, charged with Nuvve level 2 chargers and Nuvve FleetBox 2.0 software, according to a news release. The district was previously using diesel buses.

School principal Keith Kimbrough secured a $1.6 million Clean School Bus grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in October 2022 to help underwrite the project, according to the school district pages — one of 13 school districts in the state to receive money in that funding round. The money was for the purchase of four buses and charging equipment.

The district in Nacogdoches County has about 350 students.