Michigan school districts are getting 100 more school buses that run on electric or propane power.
The federal Clean School Bus Program has awarded $24 million to 27 Michigan schools and school districts, the EPA announced Thursday.
The latest grant provides enough for 97 electric school buses, and three fueled with propane. Since the program’s inception, Michigan has won $76.6 million in grants and rebates for alternative fuel school buses. That translates to 236 school buses out of the state’s fleet of 17,000, according to the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
Electric buses can be prohibitively expensive for schools. The federal program helps districts afford pricier alternative fuel vehicles, said Katrina Morris, executive director of the Michigan Association for Pupil Transportation.
“Any help that we can get from the feds is going to, you know, really help the districts to keep that money in the classrooms for them,” she said.
Electric buses also cost less to maintain, said Karl Simon, the director of the Transportation and Climate Division at the EPA. He oversees the Clean School Bus Program.
“There are less maintenance costs associated with electric buses, for example,” he said. “So you don't have things like oil changes or other maintenance opportunities that exist with the current fleet.”
The money for the state's new buses comes from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
One challenge for schools is a lack of infrastructure for charging electric vehicles. Simon said the EPA also works with school districts to ensure they have the infrastructure needed to charge electric school buses.
Morris said the technology isn’t where it needs to be – yet.
“[It’s] just like when we had the cell phones, you know, they were the big pocket bag phones,” she said. “And now everybody's got a little computer in their hands. You know, technology has come a long way, so we just need technology and the infrastructure to catch up.”
Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation make up 37% of total emissions in the United States, according to the EPA. Heavy duty vehicles, which include school buses, account for 23% of transportation emissions.
Diesel emissions from school buses also contribute to poor air quality, increasing rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Children are more susceptible to health complications.
“Their lungs are still developing at that stage,” Simon said. “So you're really getting those benefits into places where it can matter,” he said.
