Contact: Noah Barnes, Electrification Coalition
noah@electrification.org, (202) 461-2371
WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced an additional $965 million available to school districts in the latest round of funding for the Clean School Bus Rebate Program, created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. To date, the program has awarded nearly $3 billion to fund approximately 8,700 buses.
Electrification Coalition Executive Director Ben Prochazka released the following statement:
“Each day, more than 20 million American students ride school buses, and nearly all of them run on diesel, emitting dangerous exhaust that our children breathe, contributing to our nation’s dependence on oil for transportation. By transitioning to electric school buses, students can breathe easier, schools can achieve significant cost savings, and we can power our vehicles with electricity produced domestically through diverse sources.
“School buses are ideal for electrification because they run on set routes every day and return to a depot at night where they can be easily charged. Because electric school buses have lower fuel and maintenance costs, schools can save $6,000 per bus annually and more than $100,000 over the lifetime of the bus, which can go toward school supplies, staffing, and extracurricular programs. Plus, buses with vehicle-to-grid technology can even provide backup power to schools and shelters during emergencies, helping keep our communities safer. It’s no wonder schools, parents, and students all love the many benefits of going electric.
“The Electrification Coalition has a variety of resources to help school districts apply for this critical funding and looks forward to working with communities across the country to deploy more electric buses. We thank the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its commitment to giving our nation’s children a cleaner, quieter ride to school each day.”
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About the Electrification Coalition: The Electrification Coalition is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes policies and actions to facilitate the widespread adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) on a mass scale to overcome the economic, public health and national security challenges that stem from America’s dependence on oil. ElectrificationCoalition.org