Yellow school bus icon Blue Bird is going electric—the company has nearly 1,000 electric school buses in operation today. The latest order comes from Miami-Dade County Public Schools, which will add 20 electric buses to its all-Blue Bird fleet of 1,000 school buses.

Miami-Dade County is the third-largest school district in the nation, serving more than 335,000 students. The school district received a $11.6-million grant from Florida’s Volkswagen Mitigation Settlement Trust fund to acquire the electric buses.

Blue Bird will provide its Vision electric school buses to Miami-Dade through its authorized dealer, Florida Transportation Systems in Tampa.

Each vehicle can carry 72 students, and has a range of up to 120 miles. Florida Power & Light will install 50 DC fast charging stations. Ten charging stations at the district’s Southwest Transportation Facility are expected to be operational by September 2023.

“Miami-Dade County Public Schools is excited to put its first 20 electric, zero-emission school buses into service,” said Superintendent Dr. Jose L. Dotres. “We are looking forward to a successful pilot program and to building on our decades-long relationship with Blue Bird.”

“This pilot program is a wonderful first step in the electrification of Miami-Dade’s fleet and improving the air quality for its students and the community at large,” said Blue Bird President Britton Smith. “We could not be more pleased to help a long-term and highly valued customer transition to electric buses and clean student transportation.”

Source: Blue Bird