IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Four Inland Empire school districts will receive grants from the South Coast Air Quality Management District to buy zero-emission electric buses.
The Coachella Valley, Fontana, Jurupa and Rialto unified districts will each receive $536,000 grants that will pay for two electric buses – at a cost of $496,000 – and a $40,000 charging station, according to an AQMD statement.
The grants are part of the AQMD’s Carl Moyer Program, in which $8.4 million is being distributed to 16 school districts and two charter schools. That money will pay for 33 electric buses along with charging stations for those entities, according to the statement.
Since 2001, the AQMD has provided more than $280 million to replace or retrofit approximately 5,000 school buses, but this is the first time it has distributed funds for electric buses, according to the statement.
One electric bus will save a school district $10,521 a year compared with a diesel bus, due to lower maintenance costs and because electricity is cheaper than diesel fuel, according to the statement.
