Out with the old and in with the new: The Biden administration has doled out nearly $1 billion to U.S. school districts to replace aging, gas-fueled school buses with electric models. The funds are the first round of a five-year, $5 billion grant that the Environmental Protection Agency is awarding through the clean school bus program created last year.
The wheels on the bus go round and round, but the pollution is stopping. Electric school bus sales in the U.S. are booming! The transition is happening so fast, some advocates think America’s entire school bus fleet will be electric by 2030.🙌🏾 https://t.co/QAG6Z8sNQj pic.twitter.com/Eh61EBrLFP
— EDF (@EnvDefenseFund) October 26, 2022
So how far will the first bout of this billions for buses initiative go? The funds will support purchases of 2,463 buses — 95% of them electric — to schools in all 50 states through nearly 400 rebates, the White House says.
As part of a larger initiative to upgrade public school infrastructure and cut down on pollution, the EPA's clean bus program is in line with the Biden administration's plan to support underserved communities with federal funding and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A nationwide electric school bus fleet would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 5.3 million tons a year, according to a study by the nonprofit Public Interest Research Group.
