The State of California has awarded $500 million for educational agencies to buy zero-emission school buses and chargers, furthering the state’s lead in having the most zero-emission school buses in the nation.

The Zero-Emissions School Bus and Infrastructure (ZESBI) project has selected 133 educational agencies to receive 1,000 zero-emission school buses and related charging infrastructure to school districts and other local educational entities. The grants are expected to be finalized by the end of the year.

Awardees receive up to $375,000 to replace internal combustion engine school buses with zero-emission vehicles, in addition to awards up to $95,000 per school bus to purchase and install associated charging infrastructure. Awardees will be required to scrap an old internal combustion engine school bus for every new school bus purchased.

The incentive program is a collaboration between the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the California Energy Commission (CEC), and is administered by CALSTART, a nonprofit transportation organization.

In California, all school bus purchases made by school districts will need to be zero-emission technology by 2035, with an extension until 2045 for frontier local educational agencies in rural communities.

The time children spend in school bus commutes accounts for less than 10% of a child’s day, yet the commutes have been found to contribute up to 33% of a child’s daily exposure to some air pollutants in a diesel-fueled school bus, according to a 2003 study funded by CARB.

To date, California has provided more than $1.3 billion in incentives to school districts, funding more than 2,300 zero-emission school buses, of which 1,100 are already in use. More than 70% of the zero-emission school buses in use are in the state’s most pollution-burdened communities. More than 300 California school districts and local education agencies have purchased at least one zero-emission school bus, and a few have made the switch to a 100% clean fleet.

The school buses in this round of grants are expected to reduce 18,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually—equivalent to taking more than 4,000 cars off the road for a year.

First priority for the funding was given to small or rural school districts, as well as local educational agencies that have a large proportion of students who receive free or reduced-price meals, are in foster care, or are English-language learners. Local educational agencies located in low-income or disadvantaged communities received secondary priority. Approximately 98% of local educational agencies that have been selected for funding serve low-income or disadvantaged communities.