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Lion Electric releases statement commending the U.S. EPA for doubling clean school bus rebate

JOLIET — Lion Electric Company, a manufacturer of all-electric medium and heavy-duty vehicles, is congratulating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the Clean School Bus Program – which is resulting in the EPA nearly doubling the amount awarded in its initial round of funding to nearly $1 billion.

Due to the resounding interest in this year’s initial tranche of $500 million for which applications closed in August, the EPA announced it will be increasing the amount of funding that will be awarded this year to $965 million. The EPA saw interest for this year’s initial round of funding, with around 2,000 applications amounting to nearly $4 billion, for a total of over 12,000 buses. Furthermore, an additional $1 billion in funding will be available for fiscal year 2023.

“As a manufacturer of purpose-built 100% electric school buses, it is extremely encouraging to see the resounding success of this initial round of the EPA Clean School Bus Program. An oversubscription rate of nearly eight times the available $500 million proves that the school transportation industry is ready to move beyond polluting diesel school buses, for the improvement of the health of our students and communities,” said Marc Bedard, CEO – Founder of Lion Electric. “As the leader in all-electric school buses with over 600 buses on the road which he have been deploying since 2016, we are very excited to assist districts with the next round of funding, as we did with the first. Congratulations to the EPA on this great success!”

Electric school buses saw interest in this year’s initial round of applications, comprising 90% of Clean School Bus Program applications, demonstrating the high demand Lion is seeing in the marketplace for all-electric school buses. Awards for this year’s applications will be announced in October 2022.

Lion says that their all-electric school buses are eligible for up to $375,000 per bus in funding for priority districts, which can represent up to 100% of an all-electric school bus price, while other eligible districts can receive up to $250,000 per bus, thus largely aligning the price of an electric bus to that of a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle.

Through its LionGrants team of funding experts and as an eligible contractor under the program, Lion says they can apply on behalf of school districts and private fleets, as well as assist them with their own direct applications.