The State of Electric School Bus Adoption in the US

As of September 2022, there are 13,053 committed electric school buses in the US, spanning 483 school districts across 39 states. California leads adoption, and the largest funding source is California's Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Program. While adoption is high in areas with significant air pollution and among communities of color, the highest number of buses are concentrated in districts with the lowest percentages of low-income households.

• As of September 30, 2022, there are 13,053 committed electric school buses in the United States, with 1,215 of these either on order, delivered, or operating. This total includes a significant contract between Midwest Transit Equipment and SEA Electric to repower 10,000 buses over five years.
• Electric school bus commitments are spread across 483 school districts in 39 states. California is the dominant leader in adoption, with nearly 1,700 committed buses, which is more than four times the amount of any other state.
• The primary funding source for electric school buses is California's Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Program (HVIP), which has funded 1,032 buses. The second largest source is the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust, which funded 646 buses across 28 states.
• Type C buses are the most common electric school bus model, accounting for 51.8% of committed vehicles, followed by Type D buses at 28.3%.
• Adoption patterns show a disparity regarding income: the largest percentage of electric school buses are located in the first quartile of school districts, which have the smallest share of low-income households.
• Deployment is more equitable regarding race and air quality; 80% of electric school buses are in districts with high populations of non-white and/or Hispanic residents, and districts with the highest levels of PM2.5 air pollution have committed more buses.
• The average time from the awarding of funds to the delivery of an electric school bus is approximately 16 months, though this varies from under three months to over three years.

APA

Freehafer, L., & Lazer, L. (2023). The State of Electric School Bus Adoption in the US. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-04/state-electric-school-buses-us-feb-2023.pdf

Chicago

Freehafer, Lydia, and Leah Lazer. The State of Electric School Bus Adoption in the US. World Resources Institute, 2023. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-04/state-electric-school-buses-us-feb-2023.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Freehafer |first1=Lydia |last2=Lazer |first2=Leah |title=The State of Electric School Bus Adoption in the US |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=13 February 2023 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-04/state-electric-school-buses-us-feb-2023.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{freehafer2023state, author = {Freehafer, Lydia and Lazer, Leah}, title = {{The State of Electric School Bus Adoption in the US}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-04/state-electric-school-buses-us-feb-2023.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }