Thursday, Jul. 29 2010 6:33PM

It’s electric!

R-7 first district in nation to have fleet of electric trucks

Emily Jarrett, Journal Staff

With the state of the economy and cuts in funding for school districts around the state, officials at the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District were looking for more ways to save money. A major expense identified was the fleet of trucks used to transport school supplies, cafeteria items and in-house mail between the 31 facilities within the district.

“We were looking at ways to save money, but also ways to ‘go green,’” said Ron Cox, R-7 director of purchasing and warehouse distribution. “By buying these electric trucks, we’re accomplishing both goals.”

According to Cox, R-7 will be the only school district in the nation to have an entire fleet of electric trucks, something he says the residents of Lee’s Summit should be proud of.

“The diesel savings over the life of the truck alone will pay for them,” Cox said. “We were paying an average of $2.25 a gallon with our diesel trucks. With electric, we’re operating on an average of 15 cents a gallon. That’s a big difference to the taxpayers.”

Cox said the idea of replacing traditional diesel trucks with electric ones was started in 2008.

“We were looking at overhauling our distribution systems, looking at ways to be more efficient,” he said. “We had trucks in use that were as late model as 1985. Those trucks are critical to the district and we have to have a reliable fleet.”

Through research, the district partnered with Kansas City Clean Cities Coalition, a regional group that was planning to apply for a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

“The grant they wanted to apply for was for alternative fuel sources. It was a perfect fit,” Cox said. “In the grant application, we were ear-marked for up to $500,000 to help with the purchase of the electric trucks.” The Department of Energy approved the grant and awarded $330,000 to the district.

“We matched that with money from our operational budget, for a total of $660,000, and then started looking around at who could manufacture these trucks,” Cox said.

R-7 chose Kansas City-based Smith Truck to complete the fleet of four electric trucks.

“Smith Truck works with major, international corporations such as Coca-Cola,” Cox said. “They also had just received a contract for the GSA, putting electric trucks on government bases. So we knew they’d have the experience and the know-how to build our trucks.”

Cox said the design process began in 2009 with a delivery date of July 2010. Currently, the district has two of the four electric trucks, with the final two still undergoing quality control tests and scheduled to be delivered within the next three weeks.

“These trucks are going to not only help us save money for the district, but reduce our carbon emissions as well,” Cox said.

To reach Journal reporter Emily Jarrett, call 816-282-7018 or e-mail ejarrett@lsjournal.com.