Use of electric school buses is on the rise and about to grow quickly across the U.S.

Only 1% of the nearly half-million U.S. school buses are electric, but the numbers may soon expand due to President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan, calling for the conversion of all school bus fleets to zero-emission by 2030.

As opposed to most environmental initiatives, legislation promoting electric school bus implementation generally enjoys bipartisan political support. These buses are much healthier for students than diesel versions due to a lack of harmful engine exhaust, and few politicians will risk going on record opposing cleaner air for the 25 million U.S. children who ride school buses every day.

Certainly, the effect of school bus electrification on the environment is significant. It would cut emissions by an estimated 5.3 million tons annually, the equivalent of taking one million cars off the road in this country.

Why change a cultural icon?

Electric school buses look no different from the gas-engine versions that have long dotted the roads in the U.S. and Canada, and the usual manufacturers are stepping up to provide them.

In fact, large-scale school bus production, a 100% North American enterprise, could help in rebooting manufacturing where school bus factories are located in Alabama, California, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, and both North and South Carolina. Several other states where bus parts are manufactured could also see a rise in production. In addition, all of this activity could very well attract foreign electric vehicle (EV) component suppliers to invest in the U.S.

The stats

Electric school buses have  a range of between 40 and 135 miles, making them viable for even the most remote school pick-ups. They can cost up to $400,000; approximately $200,000 over the same sized gas-engine vehicle. But school districts can generally make that back within two years due to decreased energy and maintenance costs.

To date, many electric bus projects have stalled in their pilot stages due to a lack of federal assistance. However, some school districts have been proactive in seeking grants to offset extra costs, and others have been the recipients of settlement monies from the VW Environmental Mitigation Trust. 

Utilities have been jumping into the fray of late in an effort to lighten the electrical grid load, and Dominion Energy of Richmond, VA, which provides power to 7.5 million people in 18 states, is of special note. In 2019, the utility launched a  partnership with local Virginia school districts to replace diesel buses with electric models. So far, 50 buses have been purchased from Thomas Built, one of the oldest school bus manufacturers in the U.S., with Dominion absorbing the $200,000 extra cost of the electric over the gasoline version. Dominion is also funding the cost of charging stations for the 134-mile range vehicles.

Dominion, which plans to help put 1500 such buses on the Virginia roads by 2030, is planning to use them as portable energy storage units linked to the national grid. Unlike buses used in mass transit, school buses sit idle for much of the day, as well as throughout the summer when power usage is at peak.

Thomas Built Buses, a subsidiary of Daimler, incorporates battery technology developed by Proterra, a Bay Area, California electric transit bus and battery manufacturer with contracts to provide electric transit buses to 100 cities in the U.S. and Canada.

The players are growing

Other utilities that have entered into agreements with school systems around electric school bus development include Consolidated Edison in White Plains, New York, and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District in California.  Other electric school bus manufacturers besides Thomas Built are Novabus, IC Bus, and Canada’s Lion Electric.