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    EPA Awards Zum $26M to Provide 100% Electric School Bus Fleet to US School Districts

    Jan. 10, 2024
    The grant will also accelerate the expansion of Zum’s AI-driven technology platform – a tool key to the company’s decarbonization efforts in the school bus industry
    Zum
    659ec48306f57e001e4b30c0 Zum

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Zum, an American student transportation services company, has received a $26 million grant through the EPA’s first Clean School Bus Program Grants competition.

    This grant will allow Zum to transition its fleet of school buses to 100% electric school buses and accelerate the expansion of Zum’s AI-driven technology platform – a tool key to the company’s decarbonization efforts in the school bus industry.

    At Zum, our goal is to ensure that all students have access to safe, reliable, and sustainable transportation, and this grant award will propel our electrification efforts in many of the districts that we serve,” said Zum Founder and CEO Ritu Narayan.

    Zum is currently partnered with thousands of schools across the US, including Los Angeles Unified School District – the second largest district in the country – as well as San Fransisco Unified School District, Seattle Public Schools, Oakland Unified School District, and Metro Nashville Public Schools.

    “Today, we’re once again accelerating the transition to electric and low-emission school buses in America, helping to secure a healthier future where all our children can breathe cleaner air,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan. “Thanks to President Biden’s historic investments in America, thousands more school buses will hit the road in school districts across the country, saving school districts money and improving air quality at the same time.”

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.