Electric School Buses Are Just Better Than Diesel Buses, That’s All

---

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

---

Despite the abrupt U-turn in federal EV policy, the health impacts of breathing diesel exhaust are not going to vanish all by themselves. That explains why school districts across the US are continuing to add electric school buses to their fleets, benefiting students and the air-breathing residents of local communities, too. There is also an economic case to be made for dropping diesel buses from the daily commute of children, as illustrated by the US firm Highland Electric Fleets.

Cleaning Up School Commutes, One Electric Bus At A Time

Highland Electric Fleets has been surfacing regularly on the CleanTechnica radar as it ramps up its school bus electrification activity. The company does not manufacture buses. Instead, it specializes in the Electrification-as-a-Service business. With EaaS systems, a school district does not have to invest time and money researching and developing an electric bus project. Instead, EaaS firms like Highland do all the heavy lifting.

As one indicator of the company’s growth, Highland has been tapped to oversee 500 electric school buses for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. For that project, the LA28 organizers expect to borrow existing electric buses from local school districts, while Highland will take care of logistics, charging, and other areas of technical support.

Meanwhile, Highland is still add new electric buses to school districts, and its most recent project illustrates how even a small fleet can make a big difference.

On October 17, the company held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the occasion of the first electric school bus project in Hingham Public Schools, a school district in Massachusetts located near Boston. Though only three buses are involved, they are each expected to rack up about 11,000 miles of travel annually. With school bus fuel consumption in the range of less than 10 gallons per mile, that adds up to a lot of diesel fuel, and money.

“The switch from three diesel school buses to three electric school buses is projected to save the district $10,000–$20,000 each year and deliver quieter, cleaner rides for students,” Highland noted in a press statement.

Electric bus advocates also point out that the ripple effect includes better health and academic outcomes for students and a less noisy, less stressful work environment for bus drivers. The US Environmental Protection Agency continues to advise (at least as of this writing) that diesel exhaust from school buses “can contribute to air quality problems and has a negative impact on human health, especially for children, who have a faster breathing rate than adults and whose lungs are not yet fully developed.”

Who’s Gonna Pay For All This?

There being no such thing as a free lunch, new buses — whether diesel or electric — cost money, and the Hingham electric school bus project is no exception. The startup costs are being covered by $500,000 from the Accelerating Clean Transportation program of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, along with $600,000 from the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program.

The big question is how many future electric bus projects will roll down the pipeline once the EPA funding dries up, alongside other federal programs aimed at supporting the electric vehicle movement. Even though the cost of EV batteries has dropped substantially over the years, electric school buses still cost significantly more than their diesel counterparts.

EV batteries only account for part of the difference. Another factor is the relatively small size of the electric school bus market, which can prevent economies of scale from kicking in. Some analysts have also observed that high markups for school buses are an outcome of limited negotiating power on the part of school districts.

The EaaS Solution

Be that as it may, further developments in the EaaS area could help support the economic case for choosing electric over diesel when a school district needs to replace aging buses. Despite the higher upfront costs, electric buses can do something diesel cannot: they can provide valuable grid services when not busy ferrying students around, helping to reduce the total cost of ownership over time.

Last year, Highland was tapped by the US Department of Energy to run point on a new program aimed at demonstrating school bus grid services. Called “Scaling Vehicle-to-Grid Integration Nationally,” the program is funded by a $10.9 million carveout from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Law or no law, federal grants awarded prior to January 20, 2025 have been evaporating. Assuming that the SVGIN program has escaped the chopping block, the idea is to enlist school buses in a coordinated network of EV batteries that discharge to their local grid during periods of peak demand, forestalling if not eliminating the need to build new gas peaker plants. That’s a win for the school district and all ratepayers in the community.

Vehicle-to-grid programs seem a good fit for school buses, because they are only in service for a few hours each day. School buses can also recharge at off peak, night-time hours. There are complications, however. School districts with shorter routes, for example, may favor electric buses with smaller, less expensive batteries to accommodate daytime recharging.

That’s one of the complexities Highland and its partners aim to explore through the SVGIN program. The program involves 14 vehicle-to-grid school bus projects in different parts of the US, in partnership with a dozen utilities.

If all goes according to plan, real-time data from the pilot projects will be deployed to generate a reliable, standardized model for assessing the value of future V2G projects.

Electric School Buses Are Coming For Your Fossil Fuels

Highland is not the only electric bus stakeholder to demonstrate that the shift in federal EV policy will not stop the school fleet electrification movement. States have already begun picking up some of the grant-making slack. Earlier this week, for example, the Michigan Department of Education invested another $35.9 million in the state’s Clean Bus Energy Grant program. The new funds cover 23 schools, which will collectively add 87 electric buses and 10 propane buses to their fleets.

“The Clean Bus Energy Grant program helps us move toward Goal 3 in Michigan’s Top 10 Strategic Education Plan, to improve the health, safety, and wellness of all learners,” explains Interim State Superintendent Dr. Sue C. Carnell, referring to the health benefits that result when diesel fuel is out of the picture.

“Cleaner school buses offer many benefits, according to the EPA. With no or low emissions compared to diesel engines, they result in cleaner air on buses, in bus loading areas, and in the communities where they operate,” elaborates the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

“Diesel exhaust can lower air quality and impact the environment and human health, especially for children who have a faster breathing rate than adults and whose lungs are not yet fully developed,” the agency emphasizes, echoing EPA’s assessment.

Of course, federal funding would help more school districts transition to electric buses more quickly, but the President and his supporters in Congress are currently tied up with other matters. If you have any thoughts about those other matters, drop a note in the comment thread.

Photo: Electric school buses continue to roll into school districts across the US, improving the health and well-being of young children despite the abrupt U-turn in federal EV policy (courtesy of Highland Electric Fleets).