BGISD to purchase 13 electric buses with $5.13M EPA funding

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Bowling Green City Schools joins the first wave of school districts across the country to help clear the air… literally… with the government’s $1 billion clean bus funding.

Bowling Green Independent School District will soon use $5.13 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to go green.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 allows school districts among others across the nation to replace roughly 2500 old, pollution-heavy buses with new electric buses.

The BG city schools are one of 10 Kentucky school districts that will receive this 2022 rebate 1st round of investment funding.

BGISD Director of Operations Cedric Browning said, “I think electric is something we all felt was where our nation is going, and so we just thought it’d be a great chance to take this opportunity.”

Currently, BGISD’s 31 school buses transport students through the seven-mile city school district radius. Browning says this stop-and-go style route can worsen pollutants.

“I have children in the school district,” Browning added. “I have smaller kids, and it’s proven that this diesel fuel and diesel exhaust and other exhaust can be harmful to our environment, so any way we can help and be a part of that is something we want to be a part of.”

Bowling Green Municipal Utilities will partner with BGISD to provide power for the electric buses.

BGMU Marketing Coordinator Shelley Lowe said, “Electric vehicles are the way of the future. We will start to see more of these in Bowling Green, and we look forward to helping our customers who do make those purchases and making sure that they have the power necessary to charge them.”

The city schools expect to add the 13 environmentally friendly buses and charging infrastructure to their fleet by fall 2023.