The State of Electric School Bus Adoption in the U.S.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) created the Electric School Bus (ESB) Initiative to bring awareness to the health, economic, and climate benefits of electric mobility for families and children. This initiative has been tracking the adoption rate of electric school buses across the United States, and the data has been updated from the last report released at the end of 2022.

“Electric school bus adoption continues to expand in the United States. As of December 2022, there are 1,398 electric school buses that are either on order, delivered or operating. In total, there are now 5,612 committed electric school buses, almost double the number of buses since the release of WRI’s September 2022 dataset. The majority of this growth is due to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean School Bus Rebate Program, which awarded over $900 million for more than 2,400 electric school buses to 389 school districts.”

Diesel exhaust is a known carcinogen that has been linked to physical health issues as well as cognitive development. With over 90% of school buses running on diesel and more than 20 million children riding the bus to school, there has been more in-depth research into the effects of daily exposure to diesel exhaust. Lion Electric and Blue Bird are among the top electric school bus manufacturers committed to turning the page toward safer school transportation.

Read the full report