California officials announce plans to spend $500 million on next-gen school buses for students

Officials in California have committed to spending $500 million on an extra 1,000 electric school buses as well as adding hundreds of charging stations for the new vehicles.

California already has the largest fleet of electric school buses anywhere in the country. 

The new buses will be provided to more than 130 rural, low-income, and disadvantaged school districts. 

The money will also be used to add around 500 more changing stations for the school buses.

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California is set to invest in 1,000 new EV school buses

Many states across the US have introduced EVs into their police fleets, including Michigan State Police and cops in California. 

Officials in California have even taken it a step further and swapped out older ICE-powered school buses with next-generation EV ones. 

California has the largest fleet of EV school buses after spending more than $1.3 billion to snap up more than 2,300 buses and build charging stations. 

This month, the state announced it would spend $500 million to purchase an extra 1,000 zero-emission school buses and build related charging infrastructure. 

“California is committed to continuing efforts to reduce children’s exposure to toxic diesel pollution through the deployment of zero-emission school buses,” said chair of the California Air Resources Board, Liane Randolph. 

“State funding is especially critical as schools grapple with the rollback of federal support.”

The new buses have cheaper running costs

Several school districts in California already operate 100 percent zero-emission school bus fleets, while many others are phasing in the next-gen buses. 

As well as being a better choice for the environment, officials in California say the EV buses ‘have decreased maintenance and fuel costs by approximately 60 percent’.

The cost of the buses is mostly paid for by the state’s Cap-and-Trade Program, which sets a cap on carbon emissions and requires polluters to obtain permits for each ton of carbon they release.

California is aiming to reach carbon neutrality by 2045, and says that by 2035, almost all of its new school buses will be required to be zero-emission. 

While California plows on with its plans, other states in the US have paused similar plans as they await news on federal funding to help cover the cost.

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