Lion Electric LionC School Bus
Lion Electric
Electric school buses are certainly not the most exciting electric vehicles on the market, but they are a direct way to improve the air that children breathe every day. Well, every school day, anyway.
So, it’s good news that there have been a fair number of EV school bus announcements recently, ranging from orders to deploy dozens or hundreds of buses to activist calls for more government support for these zero-emission, heavy-duty vehicles.
For example, at the end of July, as part of the discussion about the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the American Lung Association (ALA) called on Congress to make a “full investment” of $20 billion in electric school buses. That’s the amount the group said was needed to transition one-fifth of the country’s school buses to electric powertrains and offer “critical health and climate benefits.”
At around the same time, the ALA released the results of a poll that showed 68 percent of American voters supported Congressional investment in zero-emission school buses. The poll also showed that 82 percent of voters said reducing air pollution around children “is not a Republican or Democratic issue, it’s just common sense” and that 72 percent of voters wanted their own district school buses to be zero-emission and not diesel powered.
“Support for the transition to zero-emission buses is overwhelming and broad and remains robust even after voters heard simulated arguments from both sides,” said Andrew Baumann, senior vice president at Global Strategy Group, which conducted the survey, in a statement.
So, the majority should approve of various recent news stories that more and more electric buses are headed to roads across North America. This week, Climate Nexus sent out an email noting that over 250 school districts across the U.S. have made some sort of commitment to switch to electric school buses. At least three states or cities – Arizona, Virginia and Los Angeles – started using electric school buses within the past several months, Climate Nexus said, part of “a trend that is cutting costs for taxpayers, bringing cleaner air to drivers, riders, and communities, and helping address the climate crisis.”
It’s not just the U.S. where there’s a push to add more plug-in school buses to local fleets. Earlier this month, Lion Electric announced it would deploy 35 LionC electric school buses on Prince Edward Island in Canada, enlarging the fleet of 12 that have been operating there since early 2021. Lion said it will also provide 35 Level 2 charging stations to the local community. In May, Lion Electric received its largest-ever order for electric school buses – for 260 buses – from a single customer, Transco in Quebec.
