We’re approaching the halfway point of the year, and things have already been wild. Tariffs, both the ones in effect and those merely looming, have changed the automotive industry, regulations are changing, and automakers are trying to keep up.

For its part, Ford has managed to have a positive year so far. Sales across the Ford and Lincoln brands are up 6.1 percent in the USA. At the same time, its EV business just took a huge hit during the month of May.

Also: Volvo’s EV Crash Hits Harder Than Expected As Buyers Walk Away From Batteries

It was only a couple of months ago that Ford’s EV sales looked like they were sliding, but not by too much. After April, they were down 2.9 percent year over year. That, though, seemed like it could be an aberration since sales in April alone were down 39.4 percent. With this new sales data in hand, it seems clear that buyers are flocking away from EVs and toward hybrids and gas-powered cars.

Ford doesn’t break up sales figures for its hybrid Lincoln products, but as a group, hybrids were up 28.9 percent in May. They outperformed every other propulsion type by at least ten basis points or more. Internal combustion cars came in second with a 17.2 percent bump over last year’s sales. Electric vehicles were down a whopping 25 percent. Due to the heavy volume of hybrid and internal combustion sales, the group was ultimately up 16.3 percent in May.

FORD AND LINCOLN SALES

Digging a little deeper into the data provides further insights. For example, the Mustang Mach-E continues to be a hit among consumers despite the EV downturn for Ford. It was up 11 percent in May and is still up 2.8 percent year over year. That’s a big rebound after it was down 40.2 percent in April. The big issues for Ford’s EV business seem to be the work vehicles.

More: This Raptor Was Flipped For $24K Over Sticker And It’s Not Even New

The F-150 Lightning was down 41.7 percent in May and is down 17.3 percent year over year. The E-Transit saw a sales drop in May of 93.3 percent and is down 24.8 percent for the year. It appears that buyers are leaning into the middle ground more than ever at Ford. The automaker’s hybrid business is up 31.2 percent this year. 

The Bigger Picture

Incentives likely helped boost May’s overall results, with employee pricing offers and consumer concerns about incoming tariffs giving shoppers extra motivation. Several models posted standout gains. The Bronco surged 51.1 percent year over year in May and is now up 46.5 percent for 2025. The Ranger also turned in a strong performance, rising 34.4 percent for the month and jumping 157.9 percent for the year.

On the flip side, the Mustang, despite having the ICE muscle car segment to itself, continues its downward trend, slipping 3.2% in May and falling 18% since the start of the year.

Lincoln had a solid month as well, climbing 39 percent in May and 13 percent for the year so far. The Navigator was a key driver of that growth, rocketing 133 percent in May and up 75.5 percent year to date.

FORD US SALES

LINCOLN US SALES

Going green is on the radar for many student transportation fleets, but choosing what fuel to use is not always a simple decision. Read this month’s issue for articles on expectations and benefits of green energy options, the knowledge foundation needed for routing efficiency, electric school bus legislation in New York and the news from the 17th National Congress on School Transportation.

Also find the STN EXPO Reno Preview, complete with agenda topics, speaker information, unique event descriptions and trade show exhibitors.

Read the full June 2025 issue.

Features

Peeling Back the Routing Layers
Routing software is the brain of a transportation operation, but human routers are the heart that keep student safe to and from school. How to route requires a strong knowledge base along with many other considerations.

Green Expectations
STN EXPO East near Charlotte, North Carolina featured presentations from various OEMs about their latest and greatest offerings in the green bus space.

Fuel Choices Are Not One-Dimensional
Choosing the right fuel for your school district is no simple task, especially with all the options and funding available. District leaders weigh in on why they went in a certain direction.

Coming Clean
Going green is good for the environment, proving to have beneficial implications for student riders, bus drivers and the surrounding communities.

Special Reports

May, Should, Shall?
School Transportation News was on site in Iowa at the 17th National Congress on School Transportation. Learn some of the conversations held as the industry readies for an update the National School Transportation Specifications and Procedures.

Q&A: Going On an Electric RIDE With Patrick Duan
Patrick Duan, co-CEO of the electric school bus manufacturer, provides insights into top trends such as federal funding, impending tariffs and battery technology.

STN EXPO Reno Preview
STN EXPO West returns to Reno, Nevada for “Content, Community and Commerce.” Prepare for next month’s conference, trade show and networking events. You won’t want to miss any of the action.

Feedback
Online
Ad Index

Editor’s Take by Ryan Gray
New York State of Charge

Publisher’s Corner by Tony Corpin
Tech-Forward Approach to Staffing

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — What was considered “plug and play” solution years ago, that being fleet electrification, is far more complicated. OEMs, vendors and transportation leaders are highlighting the continued challenges but also the benefits of electric school buses while also promoting collaboration as the industry enters uncharted territory. But continued funding is necessary.

Brad Beauchamp, EV product segment leader for Blue Bird, moderated a related session, “School Bus Sector: Rolling out the New Generation of School Buses,” on April 30 at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo that provided the perspectives of two student transporters, a leader of electrification at the nation’s largest school bus contractor, a mechanical engineer, and a smart charging technology provider.

Mike Bullman, director of transportation for the South Carolina Department of Education. described the uniqueness of The Palmetto State, as the DOE owns and maintains all 5,600-plus school buses. Bullman noted the fleet fuel makeup is currently 88 percent diesel, 10 percent propane, and three-and-a-half percent electric. He noted that his operation has taken a multi-pronged approach to alternative fuels with a focus on advancing technology.

He added that the South Carolina state specifications committee will be convening in the this summer, and gasoline will be on the agenda as well. “We feel that fleet diversity is very important as we certainly move into the future,” he said.

The South Carolina fleet travels 78 million miles a year and supports 77 public school districts. Those 78 million miles serve 365,000 students a day using about nine or 10 million gallons of diesel fuel annually and 1.2 million gallons of propane. There are 42 statewide school bus maintenance facilities and a staff of about 375 employees, with an annual budget of $170 million.

“It’s quite a large endeavor,” Bullman shared.

In addition to fuels, Bullman is focused on technology adoption. “We take a safety-first approach, but we want to make sure that technology is in there,” he said, adding that buses have tire pressure monitoring systems, stability control, camera systems, stop arm cameras, student management, GPS tracking. “All of that is part of this comprehensive multi-prong approach,” he added.

He noted that preventative and predictive maintenance are also important. Bullman and his team in South Carolina lead the inspection program offered at STN EXPO conferences.

Bullman’s department also has a statewide routing program and a comprehensive driver training program. “Additional investments in charging and fueling infrastructure is on our list and important to us, long cycle cost analysis for vehicle procurement, and staff training,” he said.

He added that South Carolina will continue to seek additional funding sources, noting that was the main driver for purchasing electric vehicles. In 2021, the state received $1.3 million in grant money to purchase four electric school busses and in 2022 received $6.6 million to purchase 16 EVs and then in 2024 they got another $6.9 million to purchase another 20.

He added that with the EVs, they are seeing cost savings with maintenance and operating costs, it’s the initial cost gap that needs to be bridged. “I personally and professionally believe that the school bus space is an ideal space for an electric vehicle,” he said. “It just fits. You’ve got long dwell times. You’ve got repeatable routes. Certainly, 80 to 90 percent of the routes in South Carolina can be covered quite comfortably with an EV bus.”

Bullman cited the current challenge is uncertainty surrounding federal funding for ESBs — which many in the industry would agree with. He noted that without grants, South Carolina would not have been able to purchase electric, citing the cost gap with diesel. He noted that data collecting will be key and help to convince naysayers that this is the right technology moving forward.

Sam Hill-Cristol, director of strategy and business development for The Mobility House, noted that V2G technology is a way to offset some of those costs. “We’re optimistic about the contributions that V2G revenues can make in the total cost of ownership calculation,” he said.

He noted that while there are ongoing V2G projects across the U.S., it is currently not scalable. He expects V2G to gain more popularity in the years to come.

Meanwhile, Lauren Lynch, senior mechanical engineer with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), noted that the agency focuses on energy systems research and development with an eye on data collection. She said NREL provides data to fleets of school buses to enable fleet managers who are adopting the technologies to better understand their use and performance.

She said the fully funded program is a free service to fleets right now. Going forward, she explained that NREL will provide buses with a data logger that works in conjunction with telematics systems, so it won’t interfere with other data logging taking place on the bus. The data is transferred to NREL, who stores the data and conducts an analysis. Currently, they are working with seven different fleets and aim to collect data for at least 30 days. NREL is also hoping to capture a year after year performance and is coming up on year two working with Beaverton School District near Portland, Oregon.

“It’s been exciting, and we’re expanding our analysis to include a maintenance and cost study,” she shared. “We want to ensure that we provide a value back to the fleets. So, as part of our overall objective, we not only want to provide this analysis to the fleets, where we highlight key insights or maybe identify some areas of opportunity, but we also hope to utilize the data as an aggregated study for the vocation, utilize the data and other tools and models to inform driver developments or address any barriers within the industry.”

She explained that the data shows electric buses are more efficient than other powertrains. They do, she confirmed, have higher capital costs but have resulted in an overall lower dollar-per-mile cost when operating the same routes.

“We’re looking at all powertrains within the fleet to understand the performance of each and identifying areas of opportunity and what’s going well,” she explained, adding that the end-goal is to make the electric school bus data publicly available via the online tool FleetREDI. Currently, the website has data on heavy- and medium-duty findings.

San Marcos Unified School District in California also received about $30 million in grant funds for infrastructure and school buses. “It was very overwhelming,” Executive Director of Transportation Mike Sawyer said.

He noted that the district had 84 old diesel buses, so he started applying for grants — one of them being the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program grant in California and the Zero Emission School Bus and Infrastructure Program — and the money kept flowing.

To help him navigate all the funding, he said he reached out to partners, including Engie, which helped San Marcos find inefficiencies in charging infrastructure. Engie helped San Marcos create “one of the biggest” charging infrastructure bus yards. Phase one was completed with 40 EV chargers, six of which are 120 kW, the remainder being 30 kW chargers. Phase two, which is about to break ground, will bring the district to a total of 75 chargers.

The location holds about one megawatt of solar and 1.5 megawatts of battery storage, and it includes a 60kW diesel generator to serve as backup if the power goes out. Sawyer noted SMUSD currently has 33 electric buses on the road.

Providing a Service

Meanwhile, First Student operates over 45,000 school buses across 43 states and eight Canadian provinces. Of those, 450 are electric vehicles.

“EVs, they are providing not only cleaner and quieter rides to school, but these kids are arriving to school calmer,” said Jennifer Harp, the contractor’s vice president of the electric vehicles program, discussing a recent project in rural Westville, Illinois that electrified its entire fleet of 17 school buses with help from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean School Bus Program, IRA tax credits, and the Illinois Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust program.

“They had some limited resources,” she said, adding that they were on a lease property and needed an infrastructure solution that would avoid high costs.

She added the company integrated its First Charge, a trenchless, flexible and quick-to-deploy. purpose-built charging hub with that removes the barrier of having to trench locations.

Harp also noted First Student currently deploys 14 First Charge units. It took about nine months to deploy the one operating in Westville.

“If we want to follow Westville’s playbook for electrification success, we really need to remember that continued success in this space requires continued funding incentives from all of our government sectors,” she said. “It also requires that we minimize costly infrastructure as much as possible. Requires partnerships and a willingness to share those learnings. …With the right strategy and infrastructure, school bus electrification is not only possible, it is absolutely practical.”

Related: (STN Podcast E257) The Paths Forward: AI, Clean Energy, Manufacturing Discussed at ACT Expo
Related: Gallery: ACT Expo 2025
Related: Cummins CEO Says Mixed Fuel Approach is Key for Commercial Sector

She noted the conversations on battery-electric adoption at ACT Expo have evolved from the initial belief that it could be a plug-and-play option. “If you’ve been here long enough, you know that it’s not that simple,” she shared. “Fleet electrification takes partnerships, very strong partnerships, high increased project coordination, industry standardization, and, above all else, patience.”

Meanwhile, The Mobility House provides smart charging to fleets to over 2,500 sites globally, 100 of which are location in North America. Hill-Cristol shared that the grand vision is to achieve “zero emission transportation at zero cost,” he said. “We think we can get there in some cases, through the technology that we provide.”

He explained that vehicle grid integration is an umbrella term The Mobility House uses to talk about a suite of use cases that are becoming more common with the next-generation electric school bus projects.

“The days of going to the utility, getting a totally new service, 100 percent paid for, putting in enough capacity for every charger to be on at once, and then just turning it on and not worrying, I think those days are pretty much behind us,” he said, adding that now customers are looking for ways to solve challenges, like vehicle-to-grid, charging off peak and backup power integration.

Hill-Cristol also mentioned off-grid supplemental solutions, which consists of using solar storage or a backup generator to help with capacity challenges and the delay in receiving chargers. All of this is also provided by The Mobility House.

He elaborated that the off-grid solutions can be either a long-term or temporary solution. For instance, some districts are using it as a bridge as they wait for their infrastructure, whereas some districts can solely use it as a charge management system. Other use cases include a micro-gird if districts need additional power on site.

“Depending on where you fall on that spectrum, and the investment that you’re making, I think that would lead you to the conclusion of whether this is a two-to-five-year solution or whether this is going to be something that sticks around,” he said. “Because with the right combination of technologies, you’re also going to get operational cost saving.”

The post Funding, Data and Resiliency Needed for Electric School Bus Success appeared first on School Transportation News.

ANAHIEM, Calif. — “It’s an honor to kick off ACT Expo 2025,” said Jennifer Rumsey, chair and chief executive officer of Cummins. “We’re in a very different place than we were just a year ago. We always knew the energy transition was going to be dynamic, and it’s clear now it’s going to be even more dynamic, more uncertain, more divergent than we ever thought it would be.”

Rumsey, who has spent the last 25 years at Cummins first as a mechanical engineer and later as an executive, noted in her opening general session April 28 that regulations were driving the industry toward a net-zero future. Cummins, like most large OEMs, was investing a record amount of money to meet those goals. Yet, concerns regarding infrastructure investment to support the emerging technology also existed.

She said the trucking and bus industry is just now starting to understand how the Trump administration’s policies might impact the future.

“There’s proposals to reconsider or reevaluate EPA regulations and natural uncertainty as this process takes shape, the incentives for battery electric vehicles offered through the IRA used onshore manufacturing and help drive adoption are back on the negotiating table, and tariffs are being used as trade policies and also impacting our businesses,” Rumsey explained. “So, what does this mean for us today? It means there’s more uncertainty than ever before about the role regulations, incentives and trade policies will play for the future of our industry.”

She commented that despite a potential rollback of regulations, Cummins is continuing to invest billions of dollars to innovate and develop cleaner, more advanced and efficient technologies. “I’ve seen us over the last several decades, we’ve made real progress, real impact together,” she said, adding that even in terms of diesel engines, the industry has significantly reduced emissions and improved fuel efficiency.

She noted that “advancements in fuel injection systems, turbo chargers, after treatment and controls, have reduced NOx and particulate emissions by more than 98 percent in the U.S. and 90 percent globally,” she continued. “To put that into perspective, today, it takes 60 class eight semis to emit what a single semi-truck emitted in 1988.”

Cummins, she said, has improved the per-gallon fuel mileage for its on highway heavy duty engines by nearly 25 percent since 2010. The company also set a goal of reducing 55 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its products already in the field from 2014 to 2030. That equates to 5.4 billion gallons of diesel fuel and almost $20 billions in savings.

“In fact, we are hitting that goal early,” Rumsey shared. “I’m pleased to share our goal to double our efforts for products and use over the next five years, helping many of you further improve fuel efficiency and reduce operating costs.”

She said all of this was achieved while also navigating challenges such as the COVID-19 recession and subsequent supply chain disruptions.

“I believe this is a time for us to come together to move the industry forward, to focus on the positive impact we can have in the midst of the uncertainty and challenges we are facing right now,” she said. “I remind myself each day of the beauty and goodness and the people and the world around us, and the opportunity that I and we all have to make a positive difference to ensure a planet where we our kids and our grandkids have access to clean air and water.”

She explained that everyone plays a role in empowering a more prosperous world. She provided three elements that she thinks be essential for success, the first being the right government regulations.

“We need to set clear and challenging but also achievable goals that drive innovation and allow the best technologies to compete and help meet the standards we set,” she said. “We need certainty and time to meet them, regulations that force the adoption of certain technologies may exclude some of the best solutions, and they may also overlook meaningful improvements in today’s technologies. We don’t want to let perfect be the enemy of good.”

She explained that many power solutions and alternative fuel sources will be in the mix for a long time. These include diesel, biodiesel blends, natural gas and hydrogen engines, as well as battery electric, fuel cell and hybrid solutions, “because no single solution will meet our broader goals.”

“Fair and unbiased regulations enable businesses to invest in a diverse portfolio of technologies that drive innovation and give choice to nations’ fleets,” she continued.

Second, she said the industry must consider the life cycle emissions of fuel or energy when making decisions on emission reduction and standards. Rumsey explained that it’s not just about the tail pipe emissions, but the complete cost of fuel production, transportation and distribution.

She said the industry also needs to continue making innovative improvements in technology offerings “that both reduce greenhouse gas and improve fuel efficiency, allowing our customers to find the most efficient, cost-effective solutions for their business and application needs,” she said.

She noted that improved fuel efficiency is the biggest greenhouse gas emission savings opportunity. “Our industry will continue operating internal combustion engines for many years, and it’s important to continue to make tangible and incremental improvements to diesel, while also advancing low carbon alternate fuels to give customers choice as the infrastructure builds out,” she said.

Related: First Student’s Kenning Discusses School Bus Electrification, Technology Innovation
Related: Report Highlights Shift in Federal Policy from EVs to Conventional Fuels
Related: Gallery: ACT Expo 2025
Related: (STN Podcast E257) The Paths Forward: AI, Clean Energy, Manufacturing Discussed at ACT Expo

For example, the new Cummins X15 engine is designed to improve fuel economy by 4 percent while greatly reducing NOx. She added, however, that battery-electric technologies are a part of the solution mix for reducing emissions and aligning with sustainability goals.

“Lithium-ion battery price per kilowatt hour has dropped by more than 85 percent in the last decade, and we are starting to see an increasing number of economic cases for electric vehicle adoption in certain commercial vehicle applications,” she said. “For example, Blue Bird has delivered more than 2,500 school buses equipped with electric powertrains and estimates that more than 90 percent of school bus routes can now be served by electric buses. That said, we need to continue to innovate in this space to ensure total cost of ownership gets close to that of diesel and enable adoption.”

She added that Cummins is partnering with Paccar, Daimler Truck of North America and Amplify Cell Technologies to manufacture lithium-ion phosphate battery cells for commercial vehicles at a plant outside of Memphis, Tennessee. A spokesman later told School Transportation News that the battery cells will be ready for market in 2027.

“While we’re currently in a period of vast uncertainty, my hope is that we can be unquestionably certain about one thing, our shared commitment to continue powering a more prosperous world to moving forward together, because no one can do it alone,” she said.

The post Cummins CEO Says Mixed Fuel Approach is Key for Commercial Sector appeared first on School Transportation News.

As global carmakers juggle tightening regulations and international trade headaches, the European Union has thrown them a much-needed lifeline. The EU will ease upcoming CO2 emission standards following intense lobbying from major players in the automotive industry.

It’s a significant win for car manufacturers and comes at a time when they’re already dealing with the fallout from US President Trump’s tariffs and the broader effects those have had on global markets and supply chains.

Originally, the EU had proposed that European carmakers reduce their CO2 emissions by 15% by 2025 compared to 2021 levels. Automakers pushed back hard, calling the target unworkable and warning it could result in up to €15 billion (around $16.8 billion) in penalties. Under the current rules, companies must pay €95 (roughly $107) for every gram of CO2 over the limit, multiplied by each car sold—an equation that quickly adds up.

Read: Europe’s Carmakers Hike Gas Car Prices To Push EV Sales Harder Ahead Of New Mandates

Last month, the European Parliament’s executive presented an amendment more to the auto industry’s liking. Rather than basing emissions solely on 2025, it will average them out across 2025, 2026, and 2027. This will give car manufacturers more time to increase production of EVs to offset the ICE-powered models they continue to sell.

Politico reports that 458 members of the European Parliament voted in favor of the change compared to just 101 who voted against it and 14 who abstained. This key amendment will now be put into law.

Changes Couldn’t Come Soon Enough

The reprieve should help European car brands massively at a time when they face fierce competition from new Chinese brands. However, not everyone is pleased with the change.

According to NGO Transport & Environment cars director Lucien Mathieu, local brands will now be able to take their foot off the gas in introducing new and innovative EVs.

“It’s ironic that the EU is delaying emissions targets for the car industry just as EV sales surge,” he said. “The boom is thanks to new, more affordable models that the carmakers launched to comply with the original EU target. This delay will allow the industry to take the foot off the gas for the EV roll-out while also slowing down investments.”

America’s crumbling roads aren’t just a punchline anymore, they’re a $20 billion annual shortfall for the federal government, and lawmakers are now eyeing new ways to close the gap. One idea on the table? A national car fee that could, in theory, also help ease gas prices over time. But like most tax ideas these days, it’s already being shot down from inside the same party that introduced it.

The proposal comes from House Transportation Committee Chair Sam Graves, who wants to charge Americans an annual fee for simply owning and driving a car. The amount would vary by vehicle type, ranging from $20 a year for standard passenger cars to $200 for electric vehicles. Hybrids would fall in the middle at $100. The long-term goal, according to Graves, is to eventually replace the federal gas tax altogether.

Read: Volvo Just Suspended Its Forecast After Tariffs And EV Headwinds Wrecked Q1

“Nearly 40 states already have a special registration fee for EVs. It is time for the federal government to assess a fee on EVs that, for years, have not paid gasoline or diesel taxes, the primary source of Highway Trust Fund revenues,” said Graves. He went on to point out that gas and diesel taxes haven’t changed since 1993. Since they’re not indexed to inflation, the government has lost out on some $480 billion in federal revenue.

Interestingly, the proposal would make it so that EV owners are essentially paying what equates to about 1,111 gallons of fuel annually based on the federal gas tax of $0.18. According to the Department of Energy, the average car uses around 430 gallons of gas per year. So, yes, EV drivers would be picking up a disproportionately large tab.

Not Everyone’s On Board

That said, the proposal sounds like it might die before making it very far, though. Chip Roy didn’t mince words about his view of it saying, “Are you out of your fricking mind? Like, the party of limited government is gonna go out and, ‘say we’re gonna have [a car tax]? You know what I was told? ‘Don’t worry about it. We’ll get rid of it later in the highway bill,” Roy continued.

According to Politico, the message he received is that the car tax is “a gimmick to pay for this, so we know that we’re not actually gonna pay for it. That’s how this town works.”

After a little math, AmericanProgress.org believes the proposal could cost Americans $7 billion a year and, of course, shrink the debt by that same amount. However, they also point out that the broader bill containing this proposal includes a hefty tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. Over a 10-year period, the top 0.1% of earners would see an average tax reduction of $278,000.

Whether this proposal is a genuine attempt to modernize road funding or just another political mirage, it forces a real question: who should foot the bill for the nation’s crumbling infrastructure in an era of rapid tech shifts and lopsided tax codes? If the answer ends up punishing EV adoption while letting wealth glide by untouched, expect this road to be anything but smooth.

Lead image Sen. Grave / Lucid

Over 12,000 attendees and 500 exhibitors gathered in Anaheim, California, from April 28 to May 1, for the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo.

The largest clean fleet conference, focused on trends such as artificial intelligence, software integration, clean fuels, and more. STN is a media sponsor of ACT Expo.

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo commenced Monday with the sixth release of TRC’s State of Sustainable Fleets report, which highlighted the shift in federal policy priority to conventional fuels, away from EVs, and the rise in renewable diesel.

Following the Biden administration, which delivered unprecedented funding to electric vehicles, including electric school buses, the State of Sustainable Fleets report highlights the Trump administration’s intent to roll back many of these programs. The 2025 report notes a period of peak uncertainty due to the regulatory transformation. It notes that the U.S. transportation policy landscape is evolving rapidly, and uncertainty remains on emissions regulations.

For instance, the report notes that executive orders have the potential to jeopardize the EPA Phase 3 GHG emissions regulations for heavy-duty vehicles and guidelines for power plants as well as halted the distribution of funds under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, creating uncertainty for alternative fuel funding.

Where federal funding falls short, state and local funding exceeds. The report notes that more than 600 state and local programs totaling over $13.5 billion remain available for zero-emissions and near-zero-emissions projects, including natural gas, battery-electric, hydrogen and newer diesel vehicles.

Nate Springer, vice president of market development at TRC, commented during a media call discussing the report on the transition from a zero-emissions-friendly administration to one now favoring conventional energy sources, one of which is renewable diesel. RD saw a 28 percent increase in production in the first half of 2024 and is on track to reach 7.257 million gallons per day by the end of the year, exceeding the goal of 5 billion gallons per day.

Plus, the report noted an overall surge in natural gas, thanks to the release of the X15N engine by Cummins, which has increased Class 8 tractor registrations this year, after two years of declining registrations. However, natural gas school bus registrations saw the steepest drop, down 54 percent to 89 units. The authors attributed, in small part, the decline to Blue Bird selling off its natural inventory in 2023 and discontinuing the school bus offering in 2024.

The renewable natural gas market continues to expand nationally. Springer said that there are over 400 facilities producing RNG around the country, a 234 percent increase over the past six years.

The report noted that in previous years, tax incentives such as the Alternative Fuel Tax Credit and Low Carbon Fuel Standards lowered the total cost of ownership of natural gas vehicles, but the evolving tax structure introduces new variables. The AFTC expired at the end of 2024, and while the new 45Z tax credit created by the Inflation Reduction Act aims to replace it, details are still emerging. Plus, LCFS is currently only available in California, Washington, Oregon and New Mexico.

“There’s still some uncertainty with 45Z and just the broader IRA policy,” Todd Ellis, general manager of sales, said during last week’s media briefing. “So, we are all waiting [for] clarity around IRA and the respective programs, and once we have that, then I think [the] industry will adjust and adapt to what those look like, but it certainly could be a driver toward broader adoption, if we get the policy right. …. I think we’re all watching closely and working across [the] industry to ensure that we are we are progressing this at the at the right pace.”

Related: ACT Expo Heads Back to Anaheim, Agenda Released
Related: Districts, Contractors Discuss School Bus Electrification Journey at ACT EXPO
Related: Study Shows Increasing Complexity of Adding Electric, Alternative Fuels

Meanwhile, battery electric vehicles, despite policy rollbacks or funding pauses, continue to show market development and growth. School bus registrations rose 47 percent to 1,436 units, the report states. And despite a current lack of federal support, report authors highlight state sources and other policies to fund EVs.

In terms of the EPA Clean School Bus Program, the report notes that future funding is at a higher risk of being cut, as opposed to the CSBP rebates that have already been announced. The EPA announced last week that funds are flowing again for the 2023 rebate program and awardees are seeing money hit their bank accounts. But there was still no word on when or if the latest 2024 rebate would be awarded this spring.

The Sustainable Fleet report, based on a survey of over 200 commercial truck and bus fleets, states that federal and state funding programs continue to incentivize electric school bus deployments across the country. The authors did discuss a temporary backlog for school buses that could be on the horizon due to a limited number of manufacturers and constraints on production capacity.

“The surge in funding and subsequent orders may soon test the capacity of manufacturers, whose order books are full, potentially leading to temporary production bottlenecks,” the report states, citing four school bus manufacturers that produce the full Type A through Type D school buses, including Lion Electric that is currently being auctioned off after defaulting on multiple loans last fall that were keeping the company afloat. “Manufacturers maintain full production lines, and one manufacturer told TRC that capacity constraints could emerge once all orders are placed. This same OEM currently sees BEV lead times equivalent to their ICE lead times of six months or less, a milestone in production that could help ease any backlog. Adding further potential for an upcoming surge, many EPA grant recipients have requested and received project extensions, extending their completion deadlines from two years to three years. For instance, Blue Bird reported that 1,000 electric buses were either sold or are included in its firm order backlog during its fiscal 2025 first-quarter earnings call.”

The report adds that the commercial vehicle industry may soon face a “perfect storm” of heightened demand and containment as order delays and EPA regulatory extensions are pushing the bulk of deliveries into 2025 and 2026. The report also cited the challenge of higher electric school bus purchase costs compared to diesel models.

Where electricity in school buses is excelling is with vehicle-to-grid technology. The report states that school buses are an early adopter of V2G technology as many buses come equipped with bi-directional charging as standard. STN reported last year on the Oakland Unified School District in California that replaced its entire fleet of 74 school buses with EVs, and bi-directional charging. However, the V2G movement is slow to adopt in the pupil transportation industry, with many stating it’s not as beneficial as it is being marketed.

The report only made passing references to propane. TRC noted to School Transportation News that a supplemental report on propane would be available this summer.

The ACT EXPO continues to run through Thursday at the Anaheim Convention Center. STN is a media sponsor of ACT Expo.

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CONCORD, N.C. — Taking place at the famous Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Bus Technology Summit and Green Bus Summit Technology Demonstration and Ride & Drive Experience showcased the latest advancements in green school buses and transportation solutions on March 23, 2025 during STN EXPO East.

Attendees were treated to a hands-on experience with various transportation technology demonstrations and green buses, including electric, propane and other alternative fuel vehicles. School transportation professionals were able to ride the latest models and learn about their features while driving around the Charlotte Motor Speedway track.

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(Photos by Vincent Rios Creative.)

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School bus manufacturing leadership has seen a flurry of activity over the past six months. True to form, Thomas Built Buses looked within the Daimler Truck North America family for its next president and CEO to succeed Kevin Bangston, who now leads Daimler Truck Financial Services. T.J. Reed got his start at Daimler Truck in September 1998 and has spent 19 years total with the company, and nearly another six years spent at Meritor heading its global electrification as well as front drive train businesses. He was tapped in October to lead Thomas.

“It feels like five, six years already, and that’s been a good thing,” he told School Transportation News last month. “Early on, I had my first trade shows. I was blown away [by] how the entire industry was really on the same page, not only the camaraderie and the spirit of working together [but] on a common mission. But it was OE’s, suppliers, districts, contractors really just loving what they do and being passionate about school buses. That’s rubbed off. And you can’t help but feel that when you’re in High Point at Thomas.”

Thomas would not comment on potential tariff impact, but the American Trucking Associations’ outlook is a potential price increases of up to $35,000 for a heavy-duty truck, granted those are made in Mexico whereas Thomas is not.

Meanwhile, Reed said employees are “pumping out” high-quality school buses every single day and benefitting from increased investment to accomplish the job. In July, the manufacturer announced its new Saf-T-Liner HDX2 school bus and moving production to the C2 SafT-Liner plant in Archdale, North Carolina, for increased efficiency and quality.

He also discussed the HDX2 as well as efficiency improvements to the second-generation Jouley electric school bus, the continued role of diesel, and more.

The following transcript was edited for clarity and space.

STN: Talk about why Thomas chose the Accelera e-axle to power the latest Jouley.

TJ Reed: I think the biggest thing, Ryan, and when you look at it, I would say the technical concept or the promise of an e-axle is you’re not only increasing performance from an efficiency perspective, you’re lowering the weight, you’re improving packaging. It’s ideally suited for school bus, even a last mile item. If you think about it, you’re taking a lot of components that are inside the frame rails that add a lot of weight, and you’re basically collapsing it down inside the housing of a carrier. And you got your traditional axle, you’ve got your motor and your transmission all in a compact space, and
that frees up a lot of room for batteries to be placed in between the rails, and you can shorten the wheelbase. That had been some of the challenges with the early generations. You were pretty restricted on the variation of the product. And as we know, school buses are pretty custom. So, this just opens up a lot of flexibility. And the other great thing is this continued maturity of components. The product’s been out in the market for a while, been operating in a heavy-truck configuration. We know it’ll live in the life cycle and certainly Cummins/Accelera is a great partner. They have a lot of resources and know-how. All those things come together. It could be just a much better experience for the districts and the bus operators. Just another step in the progression. This is great to see it come to market now.

STN: We have seen some electric school bus market consolidation recently. What is Thomas’ perspective on ramping up production to meet demand? How is Thomas positioning itself to meet that demand?

Reed: It’s a long-term play. As we like to say, we’re leading with the long view. At the end of day, school bus is the ideal duty cycle when you got majority of ranges under 100 miles a day. You’ve got overnight charging in the depot. You’ve got a lot of stop and go for regenerative braking. It’s ideally set so that it is specific to school buses. But you know, part of Daimler, globally we serve markets all around the world and want to lead in this space. With that, we work with a lot of different partners, from battery partners, drive systems, accessories, financial services. It’s a significant investment for our dealers as well. [Daimler has] continued to invest, like in the Greenlane [charging station joint venture]. Those things take time to put in place, and you don’t make investments on short-term plays. This is a long-term play, and this is an area that we think is going to be not only the right thing to do for our environment, for our communities, but it’s going to be the right long-term play for our customers from an efficiency and certainly from a health and community perspective, especially on school buses.

That’s why it’s important we have what I would call our core business based upon internal combustion engines. That generates the cash flow that allows us to invest in a lot of this technology. We’ve got, I would say, that very phased approach, where we install, we learn, we adapt, we perfect, we continue to move forward. That’s not only just with us, that’s with our customers, as we learn how to put these new vehicles in applications that they hadn’t been in before. We’ve been doing internal combustion engines for over 100 years, and that was always changing and evolving. So, there’s nothing different here. But it’s nice, too, from a Daimler perspective, we have the global toolbox, that know-how. There are components and systems that we can use that work for us in a school bus application, some that don’t. So, we have that optionality to really work with a lot of different partners, including ourselves. That gives us a lot of capability.

STN: We’ll get back to diesel in a moment. Obviously, range is a challenge with electric school buses. But infrastructure has been named by many as the biggest challenge to adoption and scalability. Does that continue to be the number one obstacle? Are there others?

Reed: We have a kind of famous calculation that we always talk about in the marketplace. You’ve got to have infrastructure readiness. You’ve got to have a vehicle that’s ready. Then, you’ve got to have basically the economics from a TCO of operation. If any one of those factors is zero, the calculation is zero. And certainly, we’re still in the very early days of infrastructure. So, for us to get to the point where we’re going to start to scale and see higher volumes, we’ve got to have infrastructure certainly coming in at a much greater pace. That’s not just only for school buses, that’s commercial vehicles, that’s passenger cars, that’s everything, in general. I think that theme hasn’t changed. We’ve seen investment, we’ve seen partnerships, but those need to continue to scale up. Then the second part of the equation is, we ’ve got the vehicles. They’re ready. They’re performing in the market today, and they’re getting better and better every day. And as they do that, that’s going to increase volume. As volume increases, that’s going to start to bring the cost down to help with the TCO parity. All those three things need to line up, and infrastructure remains the biggest challenge, not just in the school bus industry but really across the board.

STN: What role has the EPA Clean School Bus Program played in terms of pricing electric school buses compared to supply chain congestion?

Reed: There’s certainly circular logic when it comes to supply and demand in how that impacts costs. I would say this, from a technology development what we’re looking to do in our longterm plans [is] for component systems that drive down costs, that are getting, I would say better performance, more range. The reality is, in the near-term, those are still very low volume systems, and you know that at the end day that battery-electric
vehicles will be significantly more expensive than internal combustion engines from a
scale perspective. There was the [viewpoint] that battery cell cost was going to start to come down, and then you really saw the supply chain crunch… I would say commodities that go into battery development spiked. So, prices went up. We were dealing with that. And now, too, it is absolutely true in these early days [that] funding is critically important to kind of drive the early development of those early adopters. And as that either steps down or is removed, then the cost obviously goes up, and that then kind of lowers volume. I wouldn’t say it’s going to stop our progress, but it will certainly have an impact and slow it. But again, we see it as a long-term view, that it’s not an if, it’s a when. Now that one, I can’t tell you, but it’s still a situation where we probably got to have the infrastructure coming back in. There’s got to be some level of subsidies for that. In the meantime, we’re all working in unison to bring better technology to market at a lower cost, so that takes time to do, collectively.

STN: We’ve also seen an industry trend toward bigger electric school buses. Do you have any plans that you’re willing to talk about as to an eventual electric HDX2?

Reed: I’ll foreshadow this. Some great news is coming. But what I would tell you is we absolutely see the need in the market. We absolutely see the need in our product portfolio, and we have some great solutions, so stay tuned.

STN: Daimler Trucks North American recently added investment into Detroit Diesel, and the California Air Resources Board ceased seeking additional federal waivers to fully implement its Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule for heavy-duty trucks. How do these developments impact the school bus market?

Reed: The Detroit Diesel investment, that’s more for our heavy-duty products, more on the truck side. Everything that we do on the school bus is medium range. That’s Cummins, our partner there. When you look at that, just in terms of diesel, we believe you need all types because the applications are so vast, that the use cases are so different that you need a lot of different technologies to drive to zero emissions. Diesel has a critical role to play. And you’re right, with a lot of investment not only by us in our proprietary engines but our partners from Cummins and our competitors as well, it is continuing to lower emissions. You’ve got GHG phase three that will be coming in 2027. There’s additional tailpipe reductions. All those are being engineered into our buses now. I mean significantly lower NOx and particulate matter, even over the last 10 years. These are much cleaner running engines today. There are requirements, yes, for the ACT rule, where in some states, in order to be able to sell internal combustion engines, you have to have a certain number of battery electric. But that’s been, I would say, one of the success stories of the Clean School Bus Program. It’s seeded enough diesel capability or opportunity in some of these states, we haven’t had an issue with that. Diesel is going to continue to play a role as well as other modes of propulsion. We’re invested in all.

STN: And in terms of gasoline or octane, Thomas is also coming out with an option provided by Cummins in 2026 or 2027.

Reed: We’re making investments across different modes of propulsion, different emissions technologies. You’ve got to have answers for all your customers, no matter what their duty cycle is. And octane, you know, gasoline will play a big role for that. We’re excited about that as well.

STN: Thank you

Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the March 2025 issue of School Transportation News.

Related: (STN Podcast E251) Making Safety Safer: Seatbelts, Technology, Training & Electric School Buses
Related: The Tricky Part About Electric School Buses: Planning and Paying For the ‘Fueling’ Infrastructure
Related: Are you forecasting to purchase more diesel school buses this upcoming cycle than previously planned?
Related: Future of Electric School Bus Funding Remains Unknown, Warns Expert

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