Blue Bird Corp. announced recently hitting a milestone of having 500 of its electric-powered school buses being delivered or on order.

Because the school bus manufacturer produces and sells Type A, C, and D school bus body configurations in electric, the company expects its electric bus sales to accelerate through the rest of 2021, Blue Bird said in a news release. 

“We are committed to providing school bus fleets with safe, clean-power transportation, and with electric-powered buses it’s easy to see how students and the community can benefit," said Phil Horlock, president and CEO of Blue Bird. "Across North America, Blue Bird school buses transport more than 8 million children to school each day. By eliminating harmful [nitrogen oxide] emissions from the tailpipe, we are protecting students against the risk of asthma and lung disease. Safe, clean transportation is our priority.”

With schools reopening for in-person instruction, new federal initiatives on climate change — including the Clean School Bus Act and the Clean Commute for Kids Act — and the federal government’s plan to invest in infrastructure and American-made electric vehicles (EVs), Blue Bird expects substantial growth in zero-emission school bus sales in the years ahead.

“In the push for clean transportation, we expect municipalities to incorporate more zero-emission vehicles in their fleets, which include around 600,000 school buses," Horlock said. "In anticipation of the growth in demand, we’ll be increasing our EV production capacity to 3,000 units next year. We fully expect that by 2030, nearly 100% of our sales will come from EV school buses."

Through Blue Bird's Yancey Bus Sales dealership, Fulton County Schools received Georgia’s first electric school bus, and in Illinois, the Central States Bus Sales dealership delivered an electric school bus with a commercial application of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology at the high bi-directional power of 60kW. In California, Blue Bird’s A-Z Bus Sales dealership has delivered over 300 electric school buses.

Blue Bird said in the news release that its dealers can advise school districts on EV funding, infrastructure, and training specific to their requirements.

Learn more about Blue Bird’s electric school buses.