Transitioning to green: Overcoming barriers to adopt electric school buses in the us k-12 education system

The demand for transportation continues to grow with the rise in population and so do the demand for and consumption of fossil fuels adding tothe already elevated levels of pollution. School buses are specifically anarea of concern, contributing excessively adversely to the ambient air quality, causing pollution in the vicinity of schools and residential zones, while their emissions gather inside the passenger cabins. The transition to battery-driven electric vehicles (BEVs) or electric school buses (ESBs) has become necessary especially for school transportation to ensure a healthier environment for the students who currently use internal combustion engine (ICE) buses to commute daily. Adoption of these ESBs will also enable a smooth transition into the K-12 transportation system in the US which emerged and gained popularity in the COVID times. This research article explores the challenges and opportunities involved in transitioning from conventional ICE school buses to EV school buses and the approaches that can be adopted to mitigate the problems of implementing it in the K-12 transportation system, the largest mass transit system in the US.