Inventory of U.S. Electric School Buses Reaches 1,738

 CALSTART Report Tracks Funded, Ordered, Delivered, and Deployed Electric School Buses

For Immediate Release

Contact: Jennifer Manfre
323-868-6010
[email protected]

(PASADENA) January 12, 2022 – CALSTART has released a new report, Zeroing in on ESBs, an inventory of electric school buses (ESBs).  As of September 2021, there are 1,738 ESBs funded, ordered, delivered, and deployed across the U.S.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act could allocate up to $5 billion for ESBs over the next five years. That funding can dramatically change health and air pollution impacts plaguing school children, bus drivers, and communities across the U.S. from the current overwhelmingly diesel-fueled fleet.

“The timing is right because the coming funding is aligned with industry readiness – every major manufacturer offers an ESB model available in the U.S.,” said Jared Schnader, director of bus programs at CALSTART. “The next step is for school districts to get prepared for their transition.”

CALSTART has launched an ongoing Electric School Bus Working Group to share up-to-date information and peer learnings and interaction opportunities across school districts nationwide.

Another CALSTART publication, Electric School Buses Market Study: A Synthesis of Current Technologies, Costs, Demonstrations, and Funding (November 2021) found that clean fuels power only 8% of the current U.S. school bus fleet, and only 1% is electric.

Some key points from Zeroing in on ESBs:

  • California, Maryland, and Florida lead the country in ESB deployment.
  • School districts are exploring alternative deployment models such as turnkey and Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) to ease the high upfront cost of ESB adoption.

Zeroing in on ESBs is part of CALSTART’s Zeroing in on series of zero-emission technologies inventories. Other reports in the series include Zeroing in on ZEBs, focused on transit buses in the U.S. and Canada, and the forthcoming Zeroing in on ZETs, an inventory of zero-emission trucks in the U.S.

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About CALSTART

A national nonprofit consortium with offices in New York, Michigan, Colorado, and California and partners world-wide, CALSTART works with 280+ member company and agency innovators to build a prosperous, efficient, and clean high-tech transportation industry. We overcome barriers to modernization and the adoption of clean vehicles. CALSTART is changing transportation for good.