Colton Kasteel is a senior analyst with the Pembina Institute, and Ruth Kamnitzer is an organizer for the For Our Kids network.
As B.C. parents sent their kids back to school last month, the enduring impacts of climate change were not far from mind.
But there are solutions at B.C.’s fingertips, the most visible one, to parents, could be electric school buses. Some districts in B.C. are already running electric school buses — and for the parents of kids on those routes, the sight of the bus pulling up will be an important reminder that B.C. is closing the gap between current emissions and its 2030 target.In the race to tackle climate change, electric school buses offer a quick win for governments to act on.
While their initial cost is higher than diesel buses, electric school buses are operationally cost-competitive in the immediate term and outperform diesel buses in the long-term. Over 12 years, electrification can save school districts over $250 million in operational costs while also allowing them to generate up to $132 million in offsetting revenue from the sale of electric vehicle charging credits under B.C.’s Low-Carbon Fuel Standard.
Based on the elimination of these harmful health hazards, school bus electrification could save the province approximately $15 million in health-care costs. Despite the temporary electrification subsidies that have been filling the funding gap since 2020, B.C. has not made a concerted effort to normalize electrification in its bus replacement program or set clear procurement targets that would create accountability.
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