Concerns Grow Over Electric School Buses
School districts across the United States are moving away from electric buses produced by Canadian manufacturers that have faced bankruptcy issues.
Quebec’s Lion Electric is seeing a return to diesel buses. Notably, the Biden administration had allocated $159 million for the production of 435 buses from 2022 to 2024. According to a report, the company has warned districts about its dire financial situation, which hampers its ability to provide services.
Some school officials have stated that diesel buses are cheaper and suggest they might have to revert to diesel while trying to keep their electric fleets operational for as long as they can.
“We plan to keep our electric fleet running as long as we can,” said Mike Lescowich, principal of the Homer Community School District in Michigan. His district received $2.8 million in federal funding in 2022 to acquire seven Lion buses.
However, Lescowich added, “Ultimately, the cost of operating diesel vehicles is significantly lower than electric options, so we’ll likely return to diesel.”
Charlie Butler, a supervisor from a Louisiana school district, pointed out that while the 14 Lion buses they received are relatively new, it’s challenging to find a company willing to repair them.
Earlier in the year, the Washington Free Beacon noted that Lion Electric, on the brink of bankruptcy, failed to deliver $95 million worth of electric buses as part of the Biden administration’s $5 billion clean school bus initiative. Eventually, the company was sold for just $6 million during bankruptcy proceedings, a significant drop from its value of $4.7 billion in June 2021. Additionally, Lion permanently closed several manufacturing facilities, laid off most of its workforce, and informed clients that it could not fulfill U.S. guarantees and orders.
Travis Fisher, who directs energy and environmental policy research at the Cato Institute, commented on the situation, calling the transition to electric vehicles “another example” of the challenges that can arise. “For those who believed the shift to EVs would be straightforward or profitable, this scenario serves as a significant setback,” he noted.
In late January, Alana Mastrangelo reported for Breitbart News that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) visited a school in Winthrop, Maine, as part of its investigation into electric buses provided by Lion Electric through federal grants.
Interim Director Becky Foley mentioned that since the EPA’s arrival in late 2023, she has met with the district’s Transport Director about issues concerning four electric buses plagued with problems.
