An Electrified Milestone: Blue Bird Delivers 2000th Electric School Bus in Nevada

Blue Bird Corporation is celebrating the delivery of its 2,000th electric, zero-emission school bus.

The Clark County School District (CCSD) in Nevada received Blue Bird’s 2,000th electric vehicle (EV) to help the nation’s fifth largest school district transition its school bus fleet to clean student transportation.

A Peak at CCSD's Pupil Transportation Operations

CCSD operates 373 schools serving more than 300,000 students. The district maintains a bus fleet of more than 1,900 vehicles. CCSD transports over 123,000 students each school day on more than 1,400 bus routes.

Featuring Blue Bird’s new, extended range battery, CCSD’s milestone zero-emission vehicle can carry 84 students. Depending on the charging infrastructure, the bus takes between three and eight hours to recharge fully, according to a news release.

“Today, we delivered our 2,000th electric, zero-emission school bus in North America. We are thrilled to celebrate this major industry milestone with Clark County School District. Blue Bird is recognized as the undisputed leader in the field of clean student transportation. Electric school buses mean cleaner air to breathe for students, drivers, and the community at large,” said Britton Smith, president at Blue Bird Corporation.

Smith went on to applaud the Environmental Protection Agency for its Clean School Bus Program. The program is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which provides a total of $5 billion over five years for clean school bus transportation nationwide.

CCSD received a $9.875 million grant through the program to purchase electric school buses, including Blue Bird’s zero-emission milestone unit.

More On Blue Bird's EV Mission

CCSD’s milestone unit is now one of more than 2,000 Blue Bird electric school buses serving school districts across 41 U.S. states and 4 Canadian provinces.

Replacing 2,000 diesel-powered and polluting school buses with an equal number of zero-emission vehicles reduces harmful carbon emissions by more than 21,000 metric tons annually.

In addition, nearly 150,000 students a day are no longer exposed to diesel tailpipe emissions linked to serious health issues such as asthma or heart disease.

Blue Bird continues to significantly expand its electric school bus production in Fort Valley, Georgia. In 2023, the company opened a 40,000 sq. ft. Electric Vehicle (EV) Build-up Center.

In addition, School Bus Fleet recently reported that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently selected Blue Bird to receive an $80 million grant to convert a former manufacturing site for diesel-powered motorhomes into an approximately 600,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art electric vehicle manufacturing facility.

The company has a goal to increase its long-term production capacity in excess of 5,000 electric school buses per year.

Blue Bird’s zero-emission school buses are powered by the electric PowerDrive 7000 system from Accelera by Cummins.