In this episode of the Environmental Technical Assistance Program or ETAP Podcast, Sue Gander (seen above) – director of the electric school bus initiative for the World Resources Institute – talks about how funds from the $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or IIJA signed into law in November 2021 can help expand school bus electrification initiatives.
The ETAP podcast – a technical service program for state departments of transportation provided by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials – explores a wide array of environmental topics that affect transportation and infrastructure programs.
WRI’s Gander explains in this episode of the ETAP podcast that 20 million children, or about half of all American public school students, ride on a school bus every day. Children from coast to coast board one of the country’s nearly 500,000 school buses each morning and ride to class while those vehicles consume diesel, gasoline, natural gas, or propane at an average rate of seven miles to the gallon.
She notes on the podcast that electrification presents a major opportunity to reduce if not eliminate such fuel consumption by school buses – and the $5 billion contained within the IIJA offers an opportunity to state departments of transportation and other state agencies to replace existing buses with electric models and build EV recharging infrastructure to support their operation.
To listen to this podcast, click here.