Massachusetts shall be including one other 85 new electrical faculty buses to its fleet, EPA and White House officers introduced in a spherical of Clean School Bus Grants on Monday morning.
“The funding announced today will help selectees purchase over 2,700 clean school buses in 280 school districts nationwide, bringing transformative environmental and health benefits to many communities all across this country,” mentioned Michael Reagan, Administrator of the EPA. “And we’re just getting started.”
The announcement is the second spherical of funding in a $5 billion, five-year Clean School Bus Program enacted within the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
This spherical of funding will dole out almost $1 billion to 280 faculty districts — 86% of which symbolize low-income, rural and tribal communities, Regan famous — in 37 states. The cash will fund a complete of two,700 electrical and low-emission buses within the districts.
Massachusetts will obtain $20 million, funding 85 new buses in 4 faculty districts: Boston Public Schools beneath one software and districts in Fall River, New Bedford and Worcester beneath a second. These comply with six Massachusetts faculty district who acquired funding within the first spherical.
“In both cases, the EPA Clean School Bus funding will cover the costs of a portion of the electric school bus and the charging stations that go along with that,” mentioned Rachel Ackerman, Clean Transportation Program Director for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. “It’s a great way to get that influx of money and a reason for schools to take on electrifying their fleets.”
Under the grant, the buses have to be deployed inside 18 months of receiving the funding, Ackerman mentioned.
Boston already invested $7 million to purchase 20 new electrical faculty buses in a pilot program final yr, making it the most important electrical faculty bus fleet within the Northeast.
“For Massachusetts, there’s about 8,000 school buses in our state and around 300 school districts,” mentioned Ackerman. “There’s a commitment of about 144 school buses to be electrified, and that’s going to increase closer to 200 with these most recent awardees. That’s a great percentage that’s already starting to be electrified.”
The EPA is at the moment accepting purposes for the 2023 Clean School Bus rebate program till Jan. 31, 2024.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”