Electric school buses are definitely more expensive than diesel buses. But, upgrading diesel buses to electric ones still helps save the school district money issues. As different governments funding cleaner programs are making the implementation of e-buses quite possible. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also providing $5 Billion for electric buses. So, the US will have cleaner buses, with low-emission technologies, like CNG or propane, on the road by the end of 2026.

Many companies like Ford, Blue Bird, GreenPower Motor Company, and Lion Electric are eager to participate in this initiative. They represented their e-vehicles at Anaheim, California’s Advanced Clean Transportation Expo. GreenPower showcased their bus called the Nano Beast. Companies like Blue Bird, BYD, and Lion Electric brought battery-powered buses to the floor. And Ford announced that it would soon start the all-electric E-Transit model with a school bus up-fit kit.

Building e-vehicles will become easier with governments and EPA funding the program. But setting up charging points and finding suitable spots for it is still a big challenge that the country is working on. Electric buses can charge overnight, as it takes longer to charge them fully. Electric buses have a limited driving range, making them available only in some spots. However, with the increase in e-buses, they will cover as much area as possible, so students can quickly board the cleaner ride to their schools. Once the vehicle-to-grid charging devices become operational, it will positively impact the process. There’s another problem with electric buses being less reliable than diesel buses, as turning e-buses through reliable technologies is still not available yet. So, making the concept of electric school buses work efficiently will surely take some time. Electric buses are the future, and soon school districs will be seen flooded with them.

If you ever step into a car showroom, you will notice that a 2019 Toyota Tacoma would be priced at just about $29,000. However, two years later, there are dealers paying about $1,000 more for the same car, after being used. They are then reselling it to their customers for over $33,0000. This is the crazy world of truck and car sales in the U.S. Why such irregular price ranges? Blame the pandemic that caused a shortage of many things and driven up the prices to unbelievable levels.

Used Vehicles More Expensive Than New Ones

In the past year, used vehicle prices on average have climbed 30%, according to Black Book, which tracks car and truck data. That’s created many crazy situations where high-demand vehicles are selling for more than their original prices when they were new, said Alex Yurchenko, the company’s Senior Vice President of Data Science. He further stated that dealers were paying such high prices because they needed the inventory. The increase in prices of used vehicles shot up by 10% in April and 7.3% more in May. As per Edmunds.com, an average second-hand vehicle now costs $26,457.

Reason Behind the Price Hike

Due to the pandemic, automakers had to shut their factories for about eight weeks in order to help curb the spread of coronavirus. This brought production to a halt and limited the inventory of car showrooms. However, the demand remained high and the lack of new vehicles drove people towards used vehicle dealers. And lack of options forced people to pay the high prices too. They did not have a lot of choices.

Back to Normal

However, car companies soon restarted their factories to meet the rising demand for automobiles. This means that used vehicle prices will soon have to push back their prices and go back to their normal rates. With car companies resuming production, dealers will have new inventory to make sales.