School districts across America are getting nearly $1 billion in federal funding to equip their bus fleets with electric school buses. Now those districts are figuring out how to put that funding to use.
A lengthy piece by Canary Media took a deep look at this issue recently as the infrastructure act set districts on a path to revamp their bus fleets. The $1 billion allows for the purchase of 2,500 electric buses. Despite the large contribution of money, the 2,500 buses represent a small percentage of the 500,000 diesel-fueled buses in the nation.
School districts are receiving $375,000 per electric bus and the charging equipment they receive. South Carolina’s Department of Education was awarded $58 million from the Environmental Protection Agency’s rebates to account for 148 buses, or 4 percent of the fleet. The state received funding for 148 electric buses across 16 school districts.
The funding also includes training for drivers and maintenance crews as well as establishing routes and schedules for battery capacity and the range of the electric buses. The state is also working with utilities on lower rates to take advantage of the electric buses.
Dave Lubach is managing editor of the facility market.
