$250,000, compared to a $375,000 maximum award for grantees that qualify under U.S. Census definitions for poverty districts or tribal nations. This meant the West Virginia district had to spend about $125,000 up front to acquire a Type D BEAST bus. “It was a good business decision, even
though they’re not getting $375,000 from [the] EPA, it still makes sense from a monetary standpoint,” Nestlen said. And $125,000 is on par with the cost of a new diesel bus, a fact not lost on EPA. Last year, a representative told School Transportation News that the agency had shifted its perspective of the Clean School Bus Program to covering the incremental cost of electric buses rather than paying for the entire vehicle.
Rising Costs Continued hiccups in the supply chain continue to be a culprit in costly buses of all types, even several years after the pandemic stalled world man- ufacturing flows, noted Alec Borror, electric vehicle sales director for IC Bus. “There are price increases from
the supply chain. We’ve had regular meetings with the EPA. They are very interested in how we get our pricing down,” he commented. “We keep telling them we just haven’t seen the supply chain decreases we hoped for.” Borror said that as electric buses
become more common, he hopes dis- tricts will be willing to invest their own money.
“They are used to paying for school buses, they paid for diesel buses forev- er,” he said. “They are going to have to pay for buses even if they are electric. Maybe the EPA grant doesn’t fund the whole bus, but there are other grants we can stack on top of it. Maybe there is a cost to the customer, but that’s going to be the lowest cost they’re going to have in the next five to 10 years,” as federal grants decrease or expire. “This is an op- portunity to get as much of the bus paid for as you can.” Editor’s note—State grants that don’t
28 School Transportation News • JUNE 2024
originate from a federal program are eligible for stacking onto CSBP awards. And once electric buses have been
of trans- portation directors/ supervisors shared that their dis- trict/com- pany has begun the transition
40%
to a green fleet.
(Out of 129
responses to a recent STN
reader survey.)
on the road longer, he noted, there will be more hard data available to show districts the significant total cost of ownership benefits over time. “EPA has really lowered the barri- er to entry to people who want to be involved in this,” Borror said. “Our thought process today is, let’s use all the grant funding that’s available to get this train rolling. The moral of the story is, take advantage of what’s out there today, even if it’s small. Use the grant funding to get one or two buses and chargers, then you can understand how the vehicles work and get started so you’re not left behind. Start small while the funding is there.” IC Bus has delivered about 1,000
electric buses so far, with about 500 more on order as of this report. Virtu- ally every bus has been paid for with grants, Borror shared, Clean School Bus Program being the main one. “We’re trying to take the role of really
becoming [a district’s] partner, as op- posed to a vehicle manufacturer that drops it off to a customer. Looking at how they’re going to charge their vehi- cle, how they’re going to maintain their vehicle,” he said.
Hope on the Horizon Brian Buccella, chief commercial
officer at Highland Electric Fleets, predicts a positive feedback loop will develop that lowers prices, fueled in part by widespread deployment of charging infrastructure, as well as the increasing mass production of electric bus components. “My perception is as the adoption is accelerated, as the incentives start reducing or going away, you’ll see price curves go down,” he said. WRI analyzed school bus prices based
on contracts in about 16 states from 2019 to 2022, as well as grant-funded orders for electric school buses listed in documents obtained through feder-
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