Climate Matters•October 9, 2024
Electric School Buses
KEY CONCEPTS
Nearly half a million school buses bring over 24 million K-12 students to and from school across the U.S.
More than 90% of those buses run on diesel — a fossil fuel whose exhaust worsens air quality, puts children’s health at risk, and contributes to planet-warming pollution.
New data from the World Resources Institute tracks progress in the ongoing effort to replace polluting diesel school buses with cleaner, safer electric alternatives.
As of June 2024, the U.S. fleet has grown to include 12,174 committed electric school buses — a 19-fold increase over the last five years (since June 2019).
The West and South account for 64% of the national total of committed electric school buses.
More than 234,000 students across the country currently ride on electric school buses.
California, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida have the most students currently riding electric school buses.
Toward cleaner, safer school buses
School buses cover more than four billion miles each year to bring over 24 million K-12 students to and from school across the U.S.
More than 90% of those buses run on diesel — a fossil fuel whose exhaust:
Worsens air quality. Diesel exhaust, which is classified as a carcinogen, produces over 40 toxic air contaminants as well as fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides that form ground-level ozone.
Puts children’s health at risk. Diesel exhaust harms children’s cardiovascular and respiratory health and can even impact academic performance.
Contributes to planet-warming pollution. At a national scale, school bus fleets contribute to dangerous long-term warming with an estimated 8.4 million metric tons of carbon pollution each year.
Children are among the most vulnerable to the health impacts from air pollution.
Learn more: Climate Change & Children's Health: Air Quality
Communities of color face higher on-road air pollution. And low-income students and students with disabilities are all more likely to ride diesel-burning school buses than their counterparts.
In response to these health and climate risks, a nationwide effort is underway to replace polluting diesel school buses with electric alternatives that produce no tailpipe emissions.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean School Bus Program provides $5 billion over five years (FY 2022-2026) to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and clean school buses.
Student transportation is the country’s largest mass transit system in terms of daily travelers. Making it cleaner is an important part of reducing overall transportation emissions — the largest source of planet-warming pollution in the U.S.
Electric school bus surge
Using the latest available data (through June 2024) from the World Resources Institute’s Electric School Bus Initiative, we review national and local progress in the transition to a cleaner, safer school bus fleet.
As of June 2024, electric school bus adoption in the U.S. has grown to include 12,174 total committed electric school buses.
That’s a 19-fold increase over the last five years (since June 2019) — and a five-fold increase since November of 2021 when the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed into law, including funding for the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program.
A “committed” electric school bus includes the total count of buses that have been awarded, ordered, delivered, or in operation. Over two-thirds of all committed electric school buses in the U.S. have been funded by the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program.
As of June 2024, more than 234,000 students across the country currently ride nearly 3,500 electric school buses that are delivered or in operation. These numbers are set to rise as awarded and ordered electric buses arrive on school grounds.
Despite recent growth, committed electric school buses still only make up approximately 3% of the national fleet of nearly half a million school buses.
Most electric school buses in the West and South
As of June 2024, electric school buses have been awarded, ordered, delivered, or in operation in 49 U.S. states (excluding Wyoming) as well as seven tribal school districts, Washington, D.C., American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The West and South account for the most committed electric school buses (based on U.S. Census regions), together accounting for about 64% of the national total.
The South has the most students currently riding electric buses: 102,000, or 43% of the national total. The West has 80,781 students riding electric school buses, followed by the Northeast (32,740) and Midwest (18,712).
U.S. Census region | Committed electric school buses (% of U.S. total) | Number of students riding electric buses (% of U.S. total) |
|---|---|---|
West | 4,156 (34%) | 80,781 (34%) |
South | 3,607 (30%) | 102,000 (43%) |
Northeast | 2,488 (20%) | 32,740 (14%) |
Midwest | 1,837 (15%) | 18,712 (8%) |
Electric school buses in 49 states
At the state level, California leads in electric school bus adoption, with 3,110 committed electric buses.
That’s more than four times as many buses as the next leading state: New York, with 764 committed electric buses.
California has the most students currently riding electric school buses (67,462 students), followed by Maryland (30,254), Virginia (19,189), and South Carolina (10,164).
The top 10 states with the most committed electric school buses and the most students currently riding electric buses through June 2024 are:
State | Committed electric school buses | State | Number of students riding electric buses |
|---|---|---|---|
1. California | 3,110 | 1. California | 67,462 |
2. New York | 764 | 2. Maryland | 30,254 |
3. Illinois | 609 | 3. Virginia | 19,189 |
4. Florida | 467 | 4. South Carolina | 10,164 |
5. Pennsylvania | 460 | 5. Florida | 9,388 |
6. Maryland | 439 | 6. Massachusetts | 7,056 |
7. Massachusetts | 434 | 7. Illinois | 6,958 |
8. Texas | 424 | 8. New York | 6,827 |
9. Virginia | 385 | 9. Pennsylvania | 6,100 |
10. Georgia | 341 | 10. Louisiana | 5,910 |
Benefits of electric school buses
Federal tax credits, emerging state laws, and especially the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, funded by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, are speeding the rollout of electric school buses across the country.
Electric school buses bring a number of benefits to students, schools, and local communities:
Cleaner air and fewer health risks. Electric school buses have zero tailpipe emissions so students, drivers, and community members are not directly exposed to toxic diesel exhaust that contributes to fine particulate pollution — the environmental exposure that causes the most deaths in the country.
Less planet-warming pollution. Beyond local benefits, electric school buses produce less than half of the carbon pollution that diesel or propane buses produce, even accounting for the carbon required for the electricity that powers these new buses.
Cost savings. An electric school bus provides an estimated $100,000 in lifetime fuel and maintenance savings when compared to an equivalent diesel bus, despite currently higher upfront costs. Including the value of health and climate benefits can increase the estimate of economic benefits by an additional $84,200 on average per electric bus. The cost of electric buses will likely continue to drop as technologies improve, manufacturers scale up production, and government incentives continue.
Climate resilience. When the power goes out, electric school buses can supply power back to buildings or the grid. With a rise in weather-related power outages caused in part by more frequent extreme weather events, this is one way that electric school buses can help boost local climate resilience.
Ongoing deployment of electric school buses can also help address longstanding environmental justice issues. For example, the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program focuses on equity in deployment by prioritizing historically underserved school districts where many low-income students and students of color are disproportionately exposed to worse air quality and older, more polluting school buses.
Cleaning this part of everyday transportation through electrification can create healthier and safer educational environments for children, cleaner air for residential communities, and less globally harmful carbon pollution.
LOCAL STORY ANGLES
Find out about current school bus fleet composition in your state.
In August 2024, WRI released a report investigating how the fuel type and age of school bus fleets may be affecting U.S. communities disproportionately exposed to air pollution, and conversely which school districts had early success adopting electric school buses to mitigate that harm. For state-level information about current school bus fleet composition, as well as more detailed information relating to school buses and equity, air pollution, and community health download WRI's full dataset.
Learn more about the economics of school transportation and electric school buses in your state.
School Bus Fleet provides state-level information about spending on school transportation. WRI’s Total Cost of Ownership Calculator provides estimates of the total cost of electric school bus ownership in any state. The National Center for Education Statistics also provides national data on student transportation.
See what safe, clean transportation to school looks like in your area.
Efforts in school bus electrification ultimately aim to provide safe transportation that contributes less to local particulate pollution and global carbon pollution. Although it’s not possible in every community, there are also efforts to create safer routes for children to walk or bike to school — options with even lower contributions to pollution and co-benefits to children’s health. Expand on the broader topic of safe and sustainable transportation to school by using State Report Cards on Support for Walking, Bicycling, and Active Kids and Communities from the organization Safe Routes to School.
CONTACT EXPERTS
Sara Adar, ScD, MHS (she/her)
Professor, Epidemiology and Global Public Health
University of Michigan School of Public Health
Relevant expertise: impacts of environmental exposures on human health, air pollution, noise, school buses, aging
Contact: sadar@umich.edu
Brian Zepka (he/him)
Research Manager, Electric School Bus Initiative
World Resources Institute
Related expertise: U.S. electric school bus adoption
Contact: brian.zepka@wri.org
FIND EXPERTS
Submit a request to SciLine from the American Association for the Advancement of Science or to the Climate Data Concierge from Columbia University. These free services rapidly connect journalists to relevant scientific experts.
Browse maps of climate experts and services at regional NOAA, USDA, and Department of the Interior offices.
Explore databases such as 500 Women Scientists, BIPOC Climate and Energy Justice PhDs, and Diverse Sources to find and amplify diverse expert voices.
Reach out to your State Climate Office or the nearest Land-Grant University to connect with scientists, educators, and extension staff in your local area.
METHODOLOGY
Reported data on electric school bus adoption through June 30, 2024 were obtained from the World Resources Institute's (WRI) Dataset of U.S. Electric School Bus Adoption, Version 8 (released September 2024): Lazer, L., L. Freehafer, and B. Zepka. 2024. “A Dataset of Electric School Bus Adoption in the United States.” Technical Note. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. Available online at: https://doi.org/10.46830/writn.21.00134.v8.
Following WRI’s technical definitions, a “committed” electric school bus includes buses that have been awarded, ordered, delivered, or in operation.