As students across Minnesota go back to school, there’s a growing chance they’ll be getting a ride on an electric school bus. Advocates say they are better for the environment and kids’ health.

However, they are significantly more expensive than traditional diesel buses.

“Rather than a combustion engine it’s a bunch of boxes that manage electricity,” Nick Martini of Northstar Bus Lines explained.

Northstar Bus Lines is contracted to do the bus transportation for several Minnesota school districts His company has three all-electric buses on the road now and six more on order. The buses can go up to 120 miles on a full charge. They plug in and charge overnight and go on the morning run. Then, they charge again during the day before taking kids home in the afternoon.

“There’s really not a lot of difference for the public its really on the maintenance side for us,” Martini said.

“The first time I got to drive one it was exciting pretty new and different,” said John Heltemes, who drives for Northstar.

Drivers say one of the biggest differences that takes some getting used to is how quiet the buses are. In fact, the buses are equipped to play a sound when moving slowly for safety.

“I’m used to driving a regular diesel most of the time and they’re so loud compared to this,” Heltemes said.

Grants from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency have helped school districts and companies like Northstar afford the electric buses, which cost about $400,000. The cost of setting up charging stations is additional. For comparison, the cost of a traditional diesel bus is about $140,000.

However, when it comes to the impact on the environment the federal government estimates one electric bus over its lifespan can have the same impact as taking 27 cars off the road. And last year, Minnesota lawmakers put $13 million toward encouraging more schools and companies to try our electric buses.

“How do we use this as efficiently as possible and its trial and error and we’re learning along the way,” Martini said.

Part of Martini’s job is to report back to the state how the buses are working in the real world. The rollout has been intentionally slow because everyone is watching to see how the buses perform long-term including how they handle Minnesota’s winters. Martini says over the long run, he believes the buses could save money with lower maintenance costs and not having to buy diesel fuel. He says the electric buses cost far less per mile to operate even with the cost of electricity.

“No matter how much you buy in bulk you can’t get it that cheap,” he said.

The state of Minnesota has a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the year 2050 and advocates say the electric buses could help with that in a big way.