Goodbye, Diesel School Buses: Bill Would Require $45M To Replace Them With Electric In NJ

NEW JERSEY — A bill working its way through the state legislature will require the state's Department of Environmental Protection to spend $45 million over three years to replace diesel school buses with electric.

The bill would require the state to "develop and implement an electric school bus program; provides for $15 million in first year and $15 million annually in subsequent two years to DEP, subject to availability, to provide grants."

The bill would replace just some of what are 20,000 diesel buses in use now, according to statistics published by NJ Spotlight.

Electric buses are better for the environment and better for kids' lungs, advocates say. Unlike the current diesel buses, the electric buses have no exhaust pipe, and thus won't send emissions onto the roads and into the buses.

How To Recoup The Money

Districts spend $150,000 per year per bus, Spotlight says, while electric buses will cost $300,000-$400,000 each initially. But there are ways to recoup some of the money.

A report made public just this week, "Electric School Buses And The Grid," commissioned by NJ PIRG and other environmentalists, says the bus owners could sell the unused battery power to electric power grids, while buses aren't in use.

The legislation has been in the works for four years. NJ Spotlight said that supporters hope the legislator includes it in the 2023 state budget, which begins this July.

Bill A-1282 also tells the DEP to study the buses to see their impact, and then make future spending decisions accordingly.