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The Copper Country could soon be getting its first electric school buses.
The L’Anse School District has received a $790,000 grant to purchase two electrically powered vehicles.
The money is part of more than $54 million dollars earmarked in the 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In total, 25 Michigan districts will be able to purchase 138 electric buses.
Other Upper Peninsula districts that qualified for grants include Bessemer, and the Ojibwe Charter School in Brimley.
The Blue Bird bus company says its electric models have a range of 120 miles per charge, with a recharge time of three to eight hours.
In making the announcement, Vice President Kamala Harris said as many as 25 million schoolchildren ride buses each day. All but 5 percent of those buses are run on expensive diesel, and emit harmful carbon emissions.
L’Anse is one of a small handful of districts in our region that still operates its own bus fleet. Most districts have subcontracted their bus operations to a private operator.
