According to recently released data from the Federal Transit Administration, in 2022 there were 1,873 active electric buses on the roads, up from 1,548 in 2021. The active all-electric buses make up approximately 3 percent of the 60,995 public transit commuter, municipal and trolley buses in the nation.
In 2022, electric buses were used by agencies in 43 states, up from 37 states in 2021. This searchable tool will allow you to see if there are any electric buses near you.
California has the most all-electric buses in the nation, home to more than 650 active vehicles, and where buses have driven more than 11 million fully electric miles.
The most-electric transit agency in the country, the Anaheim Transportation Network (ATN) secured federal funding in 2023 to expand the agency’s electric bus fleet, charging capacity and workforce development.
While all of the agency's public transportation buses are fully electric, the agency also operates 18 cutaway paratransit vehicles for demand response operations that are fueled by compressed natural gas. However, demand response vehicles were not included in these calculations.
ATN received 3.6 million dollars as part of the Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission (Low-No) Bus Program Projects. The funding will be used to help purchase 10 zero-emission, battery-powered buses and their charging infrastructure. The buses are expected to be operational in 2025.
A big milestone came in 2022 for Antelope Valley Transit Authority in Lancaster, Calif. The agency celebrated reaching 7 million electric miles driven, representing 1,750,000 gallons of diesel fuel avoided, 41.58 million pounds of CO2 reduced and an estimated $2.4 million saved.
Universities are also pledging to reduce their carbon emissions and revamping their fleets to electric. The University of Montana’s student-led transit agency has financed electric buses through the state’s INTERCAP Loan Program, and a $163,191 Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The University of Georgia, which also ran one of the most-electric bus fleets in 2022 recently received a $7.2 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to acquire eight additional all-electric buses.
METHODOLOGY
This data comes from the 2022 National Transit Database managed by the Federal Transit Administration. 2022 is the most recent year of data available; check back for updates as more data is released. This table only includes data from full reporters, which make up the majority of transit trips nationwide.
The number of buses was pulled from “Revenue Vehicle Inventory” and the miles driven by fuel type came from “Fuel and Energy.” Only rows coded “CB” (commuter bus), “MB” (municipal bus), “RB” (bus rapid transit) and “TB” (trolley bus) and vehicle types “Articulated Bus,” “Bus,” “Double Decker Bus,” “Over-the-road Bus,” and “Trolleybus,” were included for the purposes of this table. Certain duplicate rows were removed from the “Revenue Vehicle Inventory” data when the transit agency, number of vehicles, year of manufacture and number of miles driven all matched. Rows with missing “Total Miles on Active Vehicles During Period” or values of “0” miles were removed from the data.
Do you have a correction or update to report? If so, send an email to ndavidson@erepublic.com.
