Maine school districts face repaying grants for EV buses, despite problems making them inoperable

Maine school districts tapped funding for electric school buses through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Bus Program, which is overseen by Vice-President Kamala Harris. The districts reportedly continue to have problems with the buses, and stipulations of the grants that paid for the buses require them to keep using the buses. 

In July, Central Maine reports, Quebec-based electric bus manufacturer Lion Electric recalled a part on the electric buses that Winthrop Public Schools received. Whenever the buses would hit a bump, a school transportation official told Central Maine, they would shut down. Winthrop recently received the parts and the district is initiating trials to see how the repaired buses perform. 

In February, the Maine Department of Education asked schools to park the buses due to the issues they were having across multiple school districts. However, according to Central Maine, school districts may have to repay the grants they received if they don’t use the buses. 

Nearly $3 billion has been doled out to school districts across the country to help them replace all diesel-powered school buses with electric and natural gas-powered buses. Many districts have reported having problems with the electric buses, as is the case with metropolitan public transportation districts that purchased electric buses with federal funding.