The number of models of passenger electric vehicles keeps growing, and electric delivery vans are becoming a more common sight on the road.
But it’s the lowly bus that’s zooming ahead in the worldwide shift to EVs.
By 2032, about half of the globe’s buses will be electric — a benchmark that passenger vehicles won’t hit until 2042, according to BloombergNEF’s annual Electric Vehicle Outlook.
Internationally, China leads the U.S. and Europe in the race to e-bus adoption. Within the U.S., Washington state comes in fifth place with 177 battery-powered buses while California is tops with more than 1,800 of the vehicles. New York, Florida and Texas are the next runners up, based on 2022 data from CALSTART.
And more electric buses keep rolling out. Amtrak just announced its first U.S. electric bus route, which will carry passengers between Seattle and Bellingham, Wash. — a 200 mile round-trip.
“The technology’s there. We have it,” said Leah Missik, senior Washington policy manager for Climate Solutions. “It is possible to cover the majority of school bus routes, of transit routes, across the country, across Washington.”
But the battery-powered buses are expensive, costing two to three times more than their diesel counterparts — though there are long-term savings from lower fuel and maintenance costs. To help bridge that gap, state and federal initiatives are allocating billions of dollars in grants and rebates to rapidly increase the number of e-buses on the road.
“Providing funding is really crucial to incentivize that shift,” said Molly Spiller, air pollution reduction grant section manager for the state Department of Ecology. “We are leading the way to zero-emissions transportation.”
Bucks for batteries
Most of the funding is targeting fleets operated by public transit agencies and school districts.
In June, Washington’s U.S. senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell announced more than $59 million for transit agencies in five counties in the state. The federal grants come from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
King County Metro Transit, which serves cities including Seattle, Bellevue and Redmond, plans to buy 30 electric buses with its share of the money and make investments in charging equipment. Metro’s fleet is nearly 1,400 buses, including existing e-buses plus 174 hybrid electric trolley buses that connect to power lines. Metro aims to be zero emissions by 2035.
Last year, Vice President Kamala Harris announced in Seattle a five-year, $5 billion program to helps schools transition to electric buses, with three rural districts in Washington included in the first round of recipients. Additional funds will be allocated early next year.
The resources are essential to school districts that are typically strapped for cash. A new diesel school bus is about $150,000 while a battery-powered vehicle can cost $450,000 — thanks primarily to the price of the battery, which many experts predict should decline.
Ecology has provided incentives for school districts to purchase 80 zero-emissions school buses and pubic transit agencies have bought 65 of the vehicles. The funds came mostly from the Volkswagen lawsuit settlement. Washington is also allocating money for e-buses from the state’s Climate Commitment Act, which receives dollars from the auction of greenhouse gas pollution permits.
Despite the multiple programs supporting e-bus purchases, there’s a long way to go. Washington alone has a fleet of 10,000 school buses.
E-bus benefits
For schools and transit agencies that do overcome the upfront costs, the EVs offer long-term savings. In Washington, which has relatively low electricity costs, it’s often much cheaper to recharge a battery than fill a tank with diesel. The e-buses require less maintenance, saving parts and labor costs and limiting the time they’re out of service.
And there are the health and climate benefits.
Exposure to diesel exhaust can lead to asthma and respiratory illnesses, plus exacerbate existing heart and lung disease. Washington’s power already comes mainly from clean sources, and the state aims to have 100% clean electricity by 2045. That means plugging into the grid for a charge has much lower carbon emissions than fossil fuels.
Proponents of electric bus adoption say it’s one of the more straightforward modes for transitioning to batteries given that the buses have set routes and return to depots where they can recharge.
And in a town in Eastern Washington, the public buses recharge while on their routes. Link Transit, which serves Wenatchee, Leavenworth and surrounding areas, is operating 23 electric buses and has installed four wireless recharging pads embedded in pavement. Buses stop at the sites and get a partial recharge, stretching their range.
While progress is being made, environmental and health advocates say leaders could move more aggressively and are calling for additional policies to speed the transition.
Washington lawmakers earlier this year considered legislation requiring school districts to shift to electric buses, but the bill failed to gain traction. At least a half-dozen states have passed similar laws, reports Canary Media.
Seattle Public Schools, the state’s largest district, has a contract with two transportation providers, one of which set a goal of going all electric by 2025. The company, a California startup called Zum, quietly bumped its target to 2027. Zum operates fleets of buses, vans and cars.
“There’s no reason why we should be putting kids on diesel school buses when we have an alternative,” Missik said. “It is harmful. And it’s harmful for folks who are reliant on transit or who use transit or bike behind a transit bus spewing diesel [exhaust] in their face.”
