Feds Offer Electric Bus Grants to Cities and Towns

Image courtesy of Lion Electric

Massachusetts cities and towns have until Aug. 22 to apply for funds under a federal grant program designed to aid purchases of of electric school buses to replace diesel fleets.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus Grants Program anticipates offering $400 million to school districts across the country this year to offset the cost of electric buses and lower their carbon footprint.

Any public school district that provides or contracts bus services is eligible to apply, with priority given to schools in "high-need" communities, rural areas or on Tribal land, according to program guidelines. Third-party bus contractors can also fill out a separate application if they plan to serve at least four school districts with the electric buses.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday encouraged cities and towns to take advantage of the grant program.

"Electrification eliminates the health risk from air pollution to drivers, children riding the bus, and the communities through which they pass," Warren wrote in letters to the Massachusetts Municipal Association, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and an additional 33 municipalities.

The Clean School Bus Grants Program awarded over $29 million in rebates to five Massachusetts school districts during its last application cycle, funding 75 new, electric buses. The 2021 infrastructure law set aside $5 billion towards expanding the country’s fleet of low- to no-emission school buses. - Sophie Hauck/SHNS