Woodstock School District 200 to get 3 electric buses with help from Volkswagen emissions settlement

Woodstock School District 200 is the latest McHenry County school district to get electric buses.

The school board voted Tuesday to approve three electric buses, and district officials expect the buses will be delivered in the spring.

Woodstock received a grant for the buses from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, funded by the Volkswagen diesel emissions settlement. District documents indicate that District 200 got $250,000 per bus and a one-time $22,500 grant to assist with equipment needed for the vehicles.

The cost of the equipment totals about $1.1 million, with a net cost to the district of almost $326,000. District 200 also is looking at using federal tax credits that could lower the cost by an additional $120,000, but the district still has an estimated $130,000 of electrical and site work to accommodate the electric buses and plans to go out to bid for it.

Earlier this year, Crystal Lake-based school districts 47 and 155 received a $1.68 million grant to buy four electric buses. The districts share a transportation office, and the electric buses are expected to hit the road in 2026.

Huntley School District 158 also received more than $1 million in grant funding for four electric school buses in 2022, and the school board recently approved an additional $1.2 million grant agreement for four more electric buses.