Electric buses will become a more frequent presence on school grounds in the coming years, spurred by a slew of grant programs and newly proposed federal regulations that aim to accelerate electric vehicle production.
The federal government this week opened applications for the latest round of what will end up being $5 billion in grants for districts that want to transition away from diesel buses. The was part of the 2021 legislative package known as the Inflation Reduction Act, designed to spur massive investments in fighting climate change.
The early rounds generated significant interest. So far, 400 districts spanning all 50 states have been awarded nearly $1 billion to purchase a total of 2,400 electric and 121 propane buses, according to the . Twenty-seven districts, including in Atlanta, Dallas, Jackson, Miss., and Washington, D.C., were awarded nearly $10 million each to add 25 electric buses to their fleets, the maximum number available for a single district through the grant.
More than 2,000 districts applied for a total of $4 billion during the early rounds of grants. The remaining 1,600 or so districts are on a .
Electric school buses than the nearly half a million diesel buses that transport more than 20 million of America鈥檚 K-12 students to and from school every day on the nation鈥檚 largest public transportation fleet. Students鈥� health and academic performance , with one study finding students who rode an electric bus saw an increase of English test scores comparable to 鈥渢he impact of an experienced teacher.鈥�
The newfangled vehicles, and the charging infrastructure necessary to keep them running, . And some district leaders worry about their capacity to traverse the tricky terrain in their districts. Proponents, meanwhile, argue that the long-term energy savings from converting to an electric fleet offset the initial investments and logistical challenges.
Some districts have used electric buses to help students learn more about ongoing efforts to climate change. Others, like in , have contributed the energy from their charged batteries back to the local electric grid during times of peak demand in the summer when the buses aren鈥檛 in use.
The number of electric school buses districts are operating or have committed to purchasing has risen from fewer than 1,000 at the end of 2020 to more than 13,000 in 39 states by last fall, according to , whose Electric School Bus Initiative tracks and assists electric school bus programs in districts nationwide. Of those, slightly more than 1,000 are currently on the road.
Those numbers don鈥檛 factor in the EPA grant recipients.
The federal government is paving the way for the electric bus market to expand
Meanwhile, the EPA earlier this month announced a that would require vehicle manufacturers鈥攊ncluding school bus companies鈥攖o limit overall emissions from their fleets. The only way manufacturers could stay within those thresholds would be to dramatically increase the percentage of their new vehicles that run on electricity rather than diesel or propane.
The regulations will undergo a comment period and a lengthy review that could prompt changes before taking effect later this year. Once they do, they will create conditions for more than a third of all school buses sold to be electric by 2032, according to the .
Last year, the percentage of school buses sold that were electric was slightly more than 1 percent, according to World Resources Institute estimates.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not the full-fleet transition by that time that we鈥檙e looking for,鈥� said Sue Gander, director of the organization鈥檚 Electric School Bus Initiative. 鈥淏ut it creates a lot of momentum, and goes farther than any regulatory effort to date.鈥�
At the state level, last year was a for policies promoting electric school buses. Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New York, and the city of Boston passed laws that set goals for electrifying school buses by a certain date. Colorado, Connecticut, and New Jersey set up grant programs for schools to purchase electric buses, which tend to run about two to three times the upfront cost of a traditional diesel bus. And 17 states have signed on to a to spur electrification of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles including school buses.
Slightly more than half of states have devoted some grant funds of their own to electric buses, according to collected by Atlas EV Hub and published by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Of those, Colorado has made the largest investment per resident: $12.97.
鈥淲e still have quite a ways to go,鈥� Gander said. But, she said, the recent surge of interest in electric buses 鈥渟ends a signal to the market that this is a direction we鈥檙e going in.鈥�
