DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – Detroit suburbs and other school districts will join the increasing number of school districts in Michigan investing in non-diesel bus options to transport students to and from school. 

Dearborn has received its first shipment of EV buses according to Superintendent Glenn Maleyko to support its school transportation system. 

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“We are thrilled to add the first electrical bus to our fleet and to test the school bus in our real-world environment year-round,” Maleyko said. “Electric school buses help in reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions.”

Currently, the Dearborn Public Schools has 70 diesel powered Blue Bird buses in their fleet, all of which will eventually be replaced by new EV buses according to Press & Guide.  In November, the district was the recipient of funding for 18 new electric buses.  

“I think for our students,” Maleyko said in a statement, “the lesson is good stewardship for the environment.” 

Of all the Michigan schools that applied for government funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there were 25 districts that received funding but the Yipsilanti and Dearborn districts received funding through receiving the EPA Clean School Bus Program rebate competition for the 2022 Fiscal Year.  The most funding went to the Pontiac and Jackson School Districts to buy 25 and 21 school buses, according to the Detroit News. 

“These grants are forward-focused in two crucial ways,” Michigan Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Director, Liesl Clark, said in a statement. “They protect the health of our children and generations to come in Michigan’s promising clean-energy future, and they move us toward the ambitious goals we’ve set to reduce our carbon footprint and avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis.”

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Grants were also given to Pontiac schools for 25 buses; Jackson for 21; Homer for seven; Ubly for six; Beecher, Britton Deerfield, and Chesaning Union for five each; Hartford and Pellston for four each; Cassopolis, Harbor Beach, Hopkins, and Onsted for three each; Alcona, Bessemer, L’Anse, Mayville, Pentwater, and Sand Creek for two each; and one apiece for Armada, Au Gres-Sims, Ojibwe Charter, and Unionville-Sebewaing according to Michigan officials. 

Neighboring states like Indiana have been investing in more electric buses in lieu of their diesel predecessors since 2017 and have continued growing.  Detroit suburbs like Livonia are no stranger to non-diesel school bus options like the Blue Bird Propane buses when they expanded their fleet in Spring of 2021.  

The EPA is encouraging school districts not selected in the first round of grants to apply for the next round of funding which will have a $1 billion annual budget.