The US Environmental Protection Agency provided $400 million to help school districts buy alternative-energy school buses.
Grants are part of President Joe Biden’s plan to spend $5 billion to transform the nation’s fleet of school buses. Nearly a billion dollars were granted by the Biden administration last year so that school districts could purchase electric and low-emission buses.
Investing in Electric School Bus Grants
In May of 2022, as part of President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a new initiative called Clean School Bus was implemented.
In 2022, the EPA will begin offering incentives to pay for the replacement of diesel school buses with what it calls “clean and zero-emission (ZE) models.” Funding for buses in 2023 will be allocated primarily to electric models rather than those that use alternative fuels.
The Environmental Defense Fund emailed us today to say that out of over 2,000 applications for the 2022 Rebate Program, more than 90% of them were for zero-emission electric buses, while less than 9% were for propane buses and less than 1% were for compressed natural gas buses.
That’s because electric school buses are the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative over time, and because they don’t produce any harmful emissions from their tailpipes, they’re the safest for kids.
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The Clean School Bus Program’s Second Round: What’s Different?
The 2023 Grant Program is vastly different from the 2022 Rebate Program, which was the first cycle. After a random drawing in the first round, successful applicants will receive grants in the second.
While Round 1’s application conditions were rather lax (the EPA received nearly 2,000 applications and distributed 400 awards totaling nearly $1 billion), Round 2’s requirements are far more stringent, and the EPA expects to distribute between $25 and $50 million to 25 to 50 grantees.
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