By the end of the year, approximately half the Pace buses transporting people around the Waukegan area will be electric-powered and, by the end of 2027, diesel-fueled vehicles will be a thing of the past in the city for the suburban transportation company.

The complete conversion of the fleet in Waukegan is part of Pace’s Project Zero, making all buses in the company’s six-county area around Chicago electric-powered by 2040.

Maggie Daly Skogsbakken, Pace’s chief communications officer, said it will be a boon for the environment.

“Not having any emissions going into the air is a good thing,” she said. “Transportation companies like ours can improve the environment by taking cars off the road and now by removing emissions. This saves money and improves air quality.”

Pace broke ground on the first phase of renovation of its north suburban bus garage on Friday in Waukegan, with plans to build a covered space for 12 charging stations to accommodate the new buses arriving by the end of the year.

Skogsbakken said the fleet serviced out of the Waukegan garage on 10th Street is usually around 23 vehicles. By the end of December, 10 to 12 of them will be electric. Two years later, all 23 will be powered by electricity.

When the second phase of the $92 million project is complete, she said the garage will be fully equipped to handle the entire electric line. Along with converting the facility into an all-electric one, additional improvements will be made to upgrade the aging building.

A city with many workers who use public transportation, Skogsbakken said Waukegan was picked as the first area to go all-electric for a variety of reasons, including it being a victim of industrial pollution and disinvestment in the past.

“We always keep an eye on equity,” she said. “This is an area where people depend on us most. We always want to be cognizant of that. The Waukegan garage helps us meet a lot of our goals because of the size of the fleet and the number of buses it operates.”

Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart, D-Lake Bluff, has continually pushed for environmentally friendly measures throughout the county. She said this is a particularly good development for the area.

“We’re grateful to Pace for putting electric buses in the Waukegan-North Chicago area,” Hart said. “This will be a big step toward cleaner air in the area.”

Using an all-electric fleet will bring a number of benefits to the Waukegan area already considered an environmental-justice community. Skogsbakken said the cost is less than half that of a diesel vehicle. The savings compound annually, helping “reinvestment in service and sustainability.”

Once the entire Pace fleet in Lake, Cook, McHenry, DuPage, Will and Kane counties is electric by 2040, Skogsbakken said in an email it will eliminate 900,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere during the 12-year lifetime of the fleet.

Along with drastically reducing fuel costs, she said the electric vehicles are less costly to maintain with a more simple propulsion system and fewer moving parts, requiring less time for servicing. Instead of service being needed every 3,000 miles, it is expected to be increased to a range of 15,000 to 20,000 miles.