Every bus in the Montgomery County Public Schools system could be electric by 2035, according to a plan approved this week by the county’s board of education.

Under its contract with a subsidiary of Highland Electric Transportation, Inc., MCPS will receive 25 electric buses for the fall of 2021, followed by 61 buses in fall of 2022 and about 120 buses for each of the following two years. The contract could then be extended until the school system reaches “complete fleet electrification.”

Currently, the school system’s 1,400-vehicle fleet uses diesel fuel.

In a memo to the board, Superintendent Jack R. Smith said that the school system’s transition to electric would be “budget neutral” because the company providing the buses will put up the money for the initial investment in electric buses, with the hope of making that money back over time through cost savings.

These savings, Smith wrote, will come from two areas: First, the school bus industry expects that all school systems will start moving toward electric buses within the next decade — a shift that the industry says would lead to a significant decrease in the price of the electric buses. The second category of costs savings would be decreased maintenance costs, according to Smith.

The memo from Smith says that the school system “will continue to spend what otherwise would be spent purchasing, operating, fueling and maintaining equivalent diesel school buses until the investment is recouped.”

But, Smith added, there may be “some modest costs” in the early years as the school system scales back its diesel infrastructure — costs that he expects to be offset in later years.

Smith added that he thinks Montgomery County’s electric bus plan is the first of its kind.

“As far as MCPS and the vendor know, this is the first budget neutral, non-grant dependent, school bus fleet electrification plan available,” he wrote.

The resolution approved by the school board also leaves room for the production of solar energy and other renewable energy at the county’s bus depots.