Few images of childhood are as iconic as the yellow school bus. Perhaps that’s because school buses haven’t changed with the times. Despite well-known environmental and health risks, most school buses today are not much different from the ones we rode when we were kids, filled with screaming children gulping lungfuls of diesel exhaust. The classic yellow school bus is due for an upgrade. Electric vehicles have gone mainstream – even the Magic School Bus has upgraded from “magic gasoline” to a “MagBatt” power source – and now momentum is building for a cleaner, more efficient school bus fleet.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed into law in 2021 provides $5 billion in new funding for school bus electrification, which will be distributed as rebates to school districts by the Environmental Protection Agency. To date, 2,304 electric and 116 propane-powered buses have…