ORANGEBURG, S.C. (WCSC) – Not too long from now, South Carolina drivers will have some greener company on the roads.
More than 160 new electric school buses will be in the state soon, coming from a nearly $66 million allocation from the federal government as part of the Biden administration’s “Investing in America Agenda.”
On Monday, students at Marshall Elementary School in Orangeburg were the first in their district to ride on a new electric bus, eight of which are now in South Carolina.
For the most part, these buses make for a much quieter ride than their diesel counterparts — minus the questions students had about the new arrivals, peppered during the short trip at school leaders, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan, and Congressman Jim Clyburn, who also joined the ride.
“How much money do you save in gas per year?” one student asked.
It’s a cost savings the Orangeburg County School District said it does not know quite yet from the 20 electric buses that will soon be in its fleet.
But district leaders said the benefits stretch beyond savings.
“To have safe, clean, efficient, but also comfortable rides to and from school as those young minds prepare themselves to learn and rest their minds as they ride home,” OCSD Superintendent Shawn Foster said.
Orangeburg is one of 16 districts across the state slated to receive some of the 168 new buses coming to South Carolina.
According to the EPA, $5 billion total will be sent throughout the country for electric buses, with more than half of that money yet to be awarded.
“Mark my words: Zero-emission school buses can and will be the American standard,” Regan said.
So far, South Carolina’s allotment is third-highest among all states, behind California and New York.
“It may speak to how good your Congressional representation is,” Clyburn, South Carolina’s only Democratic member of Congress and a close Biden ally, said with a smile.
But Clyburn also attributed South Carolina’s allocation to a concerted effort from the Biden administration to focus federal dollars in counties where at least 20% of the population has lived in poverty for three decades or longer, like Orangeburg County.
“What Administrator Regan is trying to do is to make sure that we address needs, not to just give money out of the door,” Clyburn said.
Foster said the new buses are much needed and will be well-used in Orangeburg County: About 80% of the district’s students rely on bus transportation to get to school every day, and the district’s fleet travels about 1.3 million miles annually, he said.
The vast majority of the nearly $66 million paying for these buses in South Carolina comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law, formally called the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” that Biden signed in 2021.
The following districts will receive money for electric buses and charging stations:
- Abbeville
- Anderson 3
- Anderson 5
- Barnwell 45
- Chester
- Dorchester 4
- Fairfield
- Georgetown
- Hampton
- Jasper
- Laurens 56
- Marion 10
- McCormick
- Orangeburg
- Richland 1
- Sumter
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