Report Finds Vice President Harris’s Electric School Bus Program is an Overall Failure

September 18, 2024

Over the past four years, the Biden-Harris administration has pushed many eco-left programs, and the electric school bus program will go down as an absolute failure. The program aims to switch school buses to electric, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) handing out $1.9 billion in rebates and another $1 billion in grants to fund the program. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight subcommittee released a report concluding the EV bus program was “overall a failure.”  

The Washington Free Beacon reports, 

“It is clear the $5 billion Clean School Bus program is overall a failure and, in many cases, a waste of Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars,” House Energy and Commerce Committee chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.), oversight subcommittee chairman Morgan Griffith (R., Va.), and environment subcommittee chairman Buddy Carter (R., Ga.) said in a joint statement.

The report discusses the price of each electric bus and notes that some districts selected for the program were not given the hefty price tag upfront,

“The report found that electric school buses remain far more expensive than traditional diesel-powered alternatives. While diesel buses—which make up the vast majority of the nation’s fleet of nearly 550,000 yellow school buses—typically cost about $100,000, the average electric bus costs upwards of $380,000. Electric charging infrastructure, also funded by the Clean School Bus program, costs up to an additional $30,000 per bus. One district selected for the program told the committee that it wished it had been “made aware of the expense of the chargers needed for zero-emissions buses before requesting them.” Costs for chargers, in certain cases, climbed to $50,000 per bus, far more than districts expected.”

Not only is this program costing our school districts thousands of dollars, but it will make our country more dependent on China. Last year, we explored how the Biden-Harris administration’s push to electrify nearly every facet of everyday life. Where Green Meets Red: How the Environmental Agenda is Making America Dependent on China explores China’s dominance in producing energy materials needed in renewable machinery like electric school buses.