Less Than 40% of Electric School Buses Funded Under Biden-Era EPA Program Have Been Delivered

Less than 40% of the electric school buses purchased through a multibillion-dollar federal program launched during the Biden administration have actually been delivered, according to new figures released by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Clean School Bus Program was created by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which authorized $5 billion over five years to replace older school buses with cleaner alternatives. The program allowed electric, propane and other qualifying buses, although the EPA says roughly 90% of the approximately $2.7 billion awarded during the Biden administration went toward electric models.

According to the EPA’s latest figures, the program funded 8,427 electric buses, but only 3,220 had been delivered as of September. That works out to about 38% of the electric buses taxpayers helped fund, leaving more than 5,000 still awaiting delivery.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin blamed the problems on poor management and insufficient oversight during the previous administration. He argued that federal money was distributed too quickly without adequate consideration of whether manufacturers could reliably deliver and support the buses purchased by school districts. Those criticisms reflect the Trump administration’s assessment of the program.

One of the most significant problems involved Lion Electric, a Canadian electric-bus manufacturer that entered creditor protection in late 2024. The EPA says approximately $160 million in Clean School Bus funding went directly to Lion Electric, while school districts also used their own federal awards to purchase the company’s vehicles. Some of those buses remain undelivered or lack adequate maintenance support following the company’s financial collapse.

Delivery delays have not been limited to vehicle manufacturing. A Government Accountability Office review found that school districts encountered obstacles putting federally funded buses into service, including delays installing the charging infrastructure required for electric fleets. The GAO also found that the EPA did not systematically collect complete information needed to track some of the factors delaying bus deployment.

The GAO recommended that the EPA improve its collection of information to verify whether federally funded buses were successfully deployed. It also called for better methods of measuring the emissions reductions generated by the program. The EPA generally agreed with those recommendations.

The Trump administration announced earlier this year that it would overhaul the Clean School Bus Program rather than continue operating it under the previous structure. The EPA canceled the planned 2024 rebate awards and began seeking public input on a revamped program that would give districts greater access to alternatives such as propane, natural gas, biofuels and hydrogen in addition to electric buses.

The EPA says no new Clean School Bus funding has been awarded under the Trump administration so far. The agency plans to use information gathered from school districts, manufacturers, fleet operators and energy producers to determine how the next funding round will operate.

The new delivery figures are likely to add scrutiny to the program as federal officials determine what to do with remaining funds. While thousands of cleaner buses have reached school districts, the latest data show that a majority of the electric buses funded through the Biden-era awards have yet to be delivered.