May 5, 2023
Federal money is starting to flow for electric school buses, but the funds won’t cover all the costs of switching from diesel.
Electrifying Pennsylvania’s bus fleet – although logical in theory – proves less sensible, experts said Tuesday.
“Our industry already has been hit with a major threat … that threat is the electric school bus,” said Daniel Frye, owner of the Frye Transportation Group in Beaver County, during a hearing with the House Republican Policy Committee. “The price tag is four times more expensive than the current diesel school bus.”
Frye said small operators can’t afford electric buses — as well as rising prices for their diesel counterparts. In June 2022, he bought a diesel bus for $103,000, but by April 2023, a quote for “the same bus” came back at $143,000.
“There is a storm brewing and that is the immense increase in the operational cost due to the electric school bus,” Frye said.
Federal money is starting to flow for electric school buses, but the funds won’t cover all the costs of switching from diesel. In October, the Biden administration announced $1 billion would support the purchase of 2,300 electric school buses nationally. Another $4 billion would be distributed through 2026 for electric and low-emission buses powered with alternative fuels, such as propane or natural gas.
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