Electric school buses

About our electric bus grant program

We give grant money to school districts to help fund electric school bus projects, focusing on areas where the environment is most affected. We prioritize projects in school districts that suffer the most from air pollution. This way, electric buses go to communities that are historically overburdened with health, social, and environmental problems and are highly impacted by criteria air pollution, such as ozone and fine particles.

These grants are paid for by funds from the capital budget, Volkswagen settlement funds, and the Climate Commitment Act. The Climate Commitment Act supports Washington's climate action efforts by putting revenue from the Cap-and-Invest Program to work to reduce climate pollution, create jobs, and improve public health.

In the current funding cycle (2023-2025), we have about $49 million — with $20 million from the Climate Commitment Act — to help school districts transition diesel school buses to electric.

Technical support and other funding

Transitioning from diesel to electric school buses requires a lot of planning for school districts. Because of that, we’ve developed a network of partners.

• The Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Student Transportation provides essential services to support the safe and efficient transportation of Washington students.
• The Washington Green Transportation Program can provide educational resources as well as direct project support.
• World Resources Institute’s Electric School Bus Initiative provides education and support to transition the nation’s school bus fleet to electric. School districts in Washington have used their help to apply for electric school bus grants.
• EPA's Clean School Bus Program provides grant funding to replace electric school buses. An EPA grant can be combined (stacked) with our grant to cover more than just one grant would– up to 100% of the cost of a bus and charging infrastructure.