First Student's blueprint for electrifying 30,000 school buses by 2035

First Student isn’t messing around when it comes to its ambitions for school bus electrification – 30,000 school buses by 2035. At first glance, it may seem a bit pie-in-the-sky, but Kevin Matthews, head of electrification at First Student, assures that school buses may be the area that makes the most sense when it comes to fleet electrification opportunities in the U.S.

“That number was not a ‘throw darts at a dart board approach.’ We also believe this [growth will be] a little bit shallower than a hockey stick, where when you get to around the year 2029 or 2030 we’ll see a real uptick in the percentage of buses that become electric,” Matthews says. “The yellow school bus has been the redheaded stepchild of the automotive industry for a long, long time. But as we transitioned to electrification, we’ve actually moved toward the tip of the spear.”

In this episode of The Amped EV Podcast, we discuss how mandates for electric school buses in various states line up with the natural replacement cycle of school buses, the dual approaches districts adopt in electrifying their fleets, and shed light on the timelines and complexities involved in transitioning to electric school buses.

This is an audio-only version of our episode with First Student. Go ahead, you’re already here – take a listen! But, if you’re looking for moving pictures, click here.

EV manufacturers depend on a variety of resources to maximize the range, performance and charging capabilities of an all-electric powertrain. Among these is tungsten, a rare metal that, even in tiny doses, is essential to meet the expectations of today's electric vehicle.

"In relation to EVs, you use [tungsten] in the looms. Tungsten gas is pumped into every semiconductor and you have about 2,000 semiconductors in each EV," says Lewis Black, president and CEO of Almonty Industries, a global mining company focused on tungsten mining. "In Korea, which is now at the forefront of batteries for the latest generation of batteries, you use it on the anodes and the cathodes. You use a nano-size fraction of tungsten so you can charge the battery much quicker and it doesn't combust, which, of course, is one of those things that obviously many EV owners are concerned about. So, it has an increasing role within EVs, as well as many other technology centers.