US Government Unveils $1 Billion Plan To Pave The Way For Electric School Buses

While electric cars seem to be steadily gaining popularity, there’s one type of vehicle that has yet to be electrified en masse: the good ol’ yellow school bus. 

Now, US authorities have come up with a plan to change that, offering rebates when existing school buses are replaced with greener, zero-emission models in a bid to cut down on the harmful greenhouse gases produced by the older vehicles.

As part of the initiative, nearly 400 school districts across the country, including some located in Indigenous tribal lands, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa, will receive a collective US$1 billion to purchase 2,500 electric school buses. 

It doesn’t just stop there. The huge sum is only the first round of funding from the Biden Administration’s EPA Clean School Bus Program, which will inject a total of US$5 billion into the effort over the next five years. 

Aside from addressing environmental concerns, electric school buses will also remove the need for diesel fuel, which often emits nasty pollutants that children inhale when they’re ferried to and from school, one of the triggers linked to higher death and disease rates from asthma. 

“The program provides a tremendous opportunity to reduce emissions and spur the transition to electric, zero-emission school buses as well as begin to clean the air and improve the health of millions of children, especially in overburdened communities that depend on the school bus transportation system,” sums up WE ACT for Environmental Justice, an activist organization.

[via Gizmodo and United States Environmental Protection Agency, cover image via Sonya Etchison | Dreamstime.com]