The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will give four Massachusetts school districts nearly $50 million to grow the Commonwealth's fleet of electric school buses.
The biggest grant – $35 million – will go to the City of Boston to replace 125 older diesel- and propane-powered buses with new electric models.
The City of Springfield's school system will receive $6.6 million for 25 electric buses, the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District in the North Shore suburbs of Boston will get $5 million for 17 buses, and the Hingham school district will get $3 million for 10 buses.
According to an inventory by the World Resources Institute, there are currently 137 electric school buses operating in Massachusetts, and over 8,000 buses that burn fossil fuels (mostly diesel).
The City of Boston currently has 40 electric school buses operating, representing about 5 percent of its fleet of 751 buses.
But with the 125 new buses funded from this grant, electric buses will comprise more than one-fifth of the Boston school bus fleet.
The city has set a goal to retire all of its fossil-fueled buses by 2030.
