Finding
City and school buses are electrifying, but more of them are funded than running
WRI counts about 4,500 electric school buses in operation in the US, against nearly 6,000 more that have been awarded funding but not yet ordered. Transit is further along: CALSTART counts 8,116 full-size zero-emission transit buses funded, ordered, delivered or deployed, 16% more than a year earlier, with California alone holding 1,933 battery-electric buses.
The gap comes from procurement and depots, not the buses. A district that wins a federal Clean School Bus award still has to order the bus, wait for delivery and get the utility to upgrade service at the yard, and WRI has found that only about half of commitments have become orders.
School buses have one advantage no other fleet has: they sit idle about 80% of the hours in a year, including all summer, when grid demand peaks. That makes them the most practical vehicle-to-grid resource; Oakland Unified runs a fully electric, V2G-capable fleet, and in July 2026 Reuters reported utilities tapping electric school buses to support strained grids during summer heat. Refuse trucks, police cars and utility vehicles are the next municipal segments, at earlier stages.
Segments
Municipal fleet segments
| Segment | Duty | Charging | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| School buses | Fixed morning and afternoon routes, idle in summer | Overnight depot; V2G candidates | ~4,500 running (WRI) |
| Transit buses | All-day fixed routes, 150-250 mi | Depot plus on-route pantograph | 8,116 funded to deployed (CALSTART) |
| Refuse trucks | Short routes, heavy stop-and-go, hydraulic loads | Overnight depot | Pilot to early volume |
| Police and public safety | 24/7 shifts, idling | Station and depot charging | Mixed; pursuit-rated EVs limited |
| Utility and public works | Variable, towing and equipment power | Depot plus public DC | Early volume |
Vehicles
Reference buses
From the Hero Fleet 75 set. Directories: school buses, transit buses.
| Make and model | Operational class | Duty cycle | Connector | Energy band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Dennis Enviro-series | Depot-Native | Fixed route transit | CCS2 | XL |
| Blue Bird All American RE | Depot-Native | Fixed route transit | CCS1 | XL |
| Gillig Battery Electric | Depot-Native | Fixed route transit | CCS1 | XL |
| Mercedes-Benz eCitaro | Depot-Native | Fixed route transit | CCS2 | XL |
| Volvo 7900 Electric | Depot-Native | Fixed route transit | CCS2 | XL |
| Yutong E12 | Depot-Native | Fixed route transit | CCS2 | XL |
Sources
Sources and scope
- Scope
- School, transit, refuse, public safety and utility fleets
- Sources
- WRI Electric School Bus Initiative dashboard (June 2026); CALSTART Zeroing in on ZEBs (March 2026); WRI/NARUC (2025); Reuters (July 2026)
- Updated
- October 2026