IC Bus said virtually all of its 1,000 electric school buses delivered to date have been paid for with EPA Clean School Bus Program funds.
al public records requests. Levinson said the analysis showed that when adjusted for inflation, prices for both electric and diesel Type C buses, which make up the majority of school buses on the road, have actually gone down in recent years. And she said the relative prices for electric went down even more than diesel in terms of percentage. That trend was not seen for Type A and D buses, which make up a much smaller portion of most district fleets. Meanwhile as regulations continue to tighten, owning
diesel buses will become comparatively more expen- sive. As demand for diesel buses decreases, according to some experts, diesel buses and parts are likely to become more expensive since their supply chains and econ- omies of scale will be pinched due to more stringent emissions regulations from the EPA and the California Air Resources Board. “As less supply is needed and less investment is made
in components for diesel, that cost will continue to escalate, and there will be a point where it will intersect” with component costs for electric, GreenPower’s Nestlen predicted. “We have a lot of optimism on prices,” added Levinson. “One thing we should be talking about more is the role of the federal greenhouse gas regulations,” including EPA Heavy-Duty Vehicle standards finalized this spring for 2027-2032 model years, requiring manufacturers to reduce the overall emissions potential of the vehicles they sell. “It’s going to make diesel buses more expensive be-
cause they have to comply with more stringent targets,” Levinson continued. “Another way that manufacturers can comply with the target is selling more electric buses. In order to sell more electrics, either you make your die- sels more expensive or price your electrics lower. Either of those will make the economic case for electrics even more appealing.”
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