Hill Schools & SuperSelby Meeting #3

April 27, 2023

Meeting

• Updates from Mr. MacNeil

• Clarifying incentives

  • What amount received from NYSERDA?

    • Per school or per bus

  • What are the NYS questions? I can ask Grace Lee and Kavanaugh

  • So not eligible for the Clean Fuels Deployment Act (SenateBill S8006C)?

    • passed last year and it offers an income tax credit of up to 50% of the cost of a vehicle (might be $180,000 for us).

  • Are we eligible for the Electric Vehicle Tax Credit from the federal government (up to $75,000 per bus deducted from income tax of that year)?

    • → no

• Questions for Mr. Klingensmith

  • The cost of $32,000 per year is a price estimate including the NYSERDA (AKA NYTVIP) program and potential other grants? Is the 3% annual increase rate fixed or open to change? If so, I should change my financing spreadsheet. I would appreciate it if you could help verify my numbers as I have been sharing them with administrators. I think the more financial details we can figure out the easier it will be to convince SuperSelby.

• Presentation from James Klingensmith from Highland Fleets

• Discussion of potential surcharge

• Keep the conversation going

Meeting Notes

• Highland fleet

  • Services one charter school (gets federal loans)

  • $32,000 includes NYTVIP and other incentives

  • Fleet partner for ConEdison for EV charging pilot

    • For cost-effectively deploying cost-effective charing in urban areas

    • 70-90% of charging costs

    • Will be laid out by released proposal document

  • Has weather data for Northeastern climate

• SuperSelby

  • By the end of June and July, we will end leases to our property and buy the land to own it. Afterward, we can start buying electric school buses, the earliest e-bus purchase being next year.

  • Bird Buses is the largest partner (enrolled SuperSelby in NYSERDA)

  • Part of the Bus Contractor Association, which comprises private bus companies in NYS

  • Buy land in order to do charging infrastructure building

  • Fleet size is 180 vehicles: 80 vans and 85 full-size

  • Retire 2-3 and buy 2-3 per year. Bus size is 180. 2012s will be aged out (can use for 16 years)

    • 10 buses next year (5-10 out of 10)

      • Phase out

    • 10 buses

  • Has a few public schools, but any buses must serve them exclusively if they get incentives

  • Manufacturers purchased from: Bird Bus, Don Brown, International

  • Lee Selby - owner

  • Mr. MacNeil works also for Leesel transportation, a bigger company

  • Small company at $30 million company

• Pricing

  • 380k start

  • 120k from NYSERDA with no limit that we are aware of

  • For electric vans, it is $80k vs $250k

• Government

  • Must be emission-free after 2027

Next Steps

• Lobby for private school contractors getting the same incentives as private school contractors because everyone needs to go to school.

• James and Mr. MacNeil will speak together

• Meet in September, start of 2023-4 school year (include KNF at PDS)