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Blue Bird’s record order of 180 electric school buses to LA

January 18, 2024

Blue Bird Corporation has announced that Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has ordered 180 electric, zero-emission school buses, marking the largest single EV bus order in Blue Bird’s history. The order was placed through A-Z Bus Sales, Inc., the local Blue Bird dealer, and is part of LAUSD’s initiative to transition to 100% electric student transportation.

LAUSD currently operates 26 Blue Bird electric school buses. The new order will add 30 Vision and 150 All-American electric buses to the district’s fleet, significantly increasing its zero-emission capabilities.

The first buses are expected to be delivered in October 2024, with the full order completed by early 2025. Both the Vision and All American models can travel up to 130 miles on a single charge, and depending on LAUSD’s future charging infrastructure, could take between three and eight hours to fully recharge.

Blue Bird’s electric buses come standard with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capability. This bi-directional charging technology could allow LAUSD to sell excess energy stored in the bus batteries back to electric power companies. V2G programs also help balance demands on the grid and improve grid resiliency.

Blue Bird recently celebrated the delivery of its 1500th electric school bus and its vehicles now operate across 41 U.S. states. The company has invested in expanding its electric school bus production capacity, opening its Electric Vehicle (EV) Build-up Center, which will enable Blue Bird to build up to 5,000 electric school buses a year in the long-term.