California funds 1,000 electric school buses
The funding comes from the Zero-Emissions School Bus and Infrastructure (ZESBI) programme, which is headed by the California Air Resouces Board (CARB) and the California Energy Commission (CEC). The call for the funding was launched in August last year.
According to the press release, 133 educational agencies were selected to receive grants to swap out their school bus fleets. Eligible applicants receive up to $375,000 to replace an old school bus, as well as $95,000 per school bus to set up corresponding charging infrastructure. However, according to the ‘ZESBI Infrastructure Incentive Fact Sheet,’ that only applies to fast-chargers capable of bi-directional charging. Schools will receive up to 20,000 dollars per ZESBI-funded bus for an AC charger and up to 75,000 dollars for a DC charger.
The state of California requires all new school buses to be zero-emission by 2035, while the state is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2045. State Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill to that effect in October 2023. At the time, the US state reported about 23,800 school buses on the road in California.
“Cleaning up the state’s school bus fleet is central to California’s efforts to provide clean transportation in priority communities that are disproportionately hurt by air pollution,” said CARB Chair Liane Randolph. “The vast majority of these grants will go to local educational agencies that serve these communities.”
“California has set important benchmarks for removing internal combustion vehicles from our roads and replacing them with clean transportation,” said CEC Chair David Hochschild. “CEC is helping school districts move in that direction by funding ZESBI.”
California says that it has already made $1.3 billion in funding for new school buses available, which supported the purchase of 2,300 zero-emission school buses, 1,100 of which are already in use.
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