The Southeast may not be the first place that comes to mind when you think of electric vehicles. But when it comes to making electric school buses, the region has quietly become a powerhouse. Two legacy diesel school bus manufacturers — Blue Bird in Fort Valley, Georgia, and Thomas Built Buses in High Point, North Carolina — are now responsible for a significant share of America’s electric school buses, thanks in part to federal investment during the Biden administration.
Blue Bird and Thomas Built have each been making school buses for decades, deeply rooted in their respective communities. Blue Bird was founded in 1927 and has been a mainstay in Fort Valley for generations. Thomas Built Buses, founded in 1916, has operated in High Point for over a century.
That longevity meant both companies already had the factory capacity, trained workforce, and supplier networks needed to pivot toward electric production once the money was there to make it happen.
Federal Funds as the Catalyst
In 2024, Blue Bird was awarded $80 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, funded through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), to transform a shuttered diesel motorhome plant into a 600,000-square-foot electric vehicle manufacturing facility. The investment is projected to retain roughly 2,000 existing jobs and create 428 new manufacturing positions. The construction process will also create 250 construction jobs in a federally designated disadvantaged community.
The number of electric school buses on the road has skyrocketed from 415 to more than 5,100 since 2020. That’s 265,000 students riding electric school buses to and from school each day. Blue Bird has already delivered its 2,000th electric school bus, with models operating in 41 states and multiple Canadian provinces.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) have shaped this surge in Southeast electric school bus manufacturing. The Clean School Bus Program, a BIL-funded initiative, authorizes $5 billion over five years for the EPA to replace diesel buses with low- and zero-emission models. As of July 2025, the Clean School Bus Program has funded 8,500+ electric school buses in over 1,200 school districts, benefiting about 30,000 students in the Southeast.
IRA has provided manufacturing tax credits, supply chain incentives, and clean energy investment support to EV manufacturers. The $80 million Blue Bird expansion is one direct example of IRA dollars at work on both ends of the chain.
In High Point, Thomas Built Buses expanded its workforce in 2022 by adding a second shift, creating 280 new jobs to ramp up production of both diesel and electric models, including its flagship electric bus, the Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley. The Jouley offers up to 138 miles of range — enough for a full day’s worth of typical school bus routes.
As manufacturers scale up their production, authorized dealers can be an important liaison between the manufacturer and the end user, educating them on the benefits of new technology. Roy Parks, Western Regional Sales Manager for Carolina Thomas, the authorized dealer for Thomas Built in North Carolina, said his team plays a hands-on role in helping districts adopt electric school buses. The relationships between Carolina Thomas and the school districts are built on trust and collective investment.
“We’re kind of the boots on the ground. We’re the ones that deal with them day in and day out… We support them. We sell them the buses. We do training for their service techs,” Parks said.
In mountain communities like Transylvania County in western North Carolina, Thomas Built’s electric school buses are redefining what’s possible in rural Appalachia. When Transylvania County decided to use its Volkswagen settlement funds to purchase electric school buses, Carolina Thomas was eager to test out the buses in a rural, mountainous setting with longer school bus routes.
“We felt like Transylvania, with its hills, the length of its routes, the climate… would be a good testing ground to see how it performed in that particular application,” Parks said.
For Carolina Thomas, it’s about truly understanding the needs of each district. Early deployments in Transylvania County taught valuable lessons about matching bus specs, chargers, and route profiles.
“We kind of have a saying at Carolina Thomas — it’s from conception to completion.”
– Roy Parks, Western Regional Sales Manager, Carolina Thomas
Benefits and Operational Shifts
According to Parks, districts are seeing both environmental and operational gains. Electric school buses don’t have a tailpipe, which means they don’t emit particulate matter and nitrous oxide. These pollutants can contribute to respiratory disease, heart disease, cancer, and other health problems. Lowered school bus emissions have even been shown to correlate with improved school performance.
“It’s a lot cleaner, you’re reducing the carbon footprint, it’s zero emissions,” Parks said. “The one thing that a lot of drivers say once they get in it is it’s just such a consistent, smooth ride.”
Electric school buses also have the potential to function as resiliency hubs during emergencies, providing air conditioning, electricity, and even Wi-Fi to communities after severe weather events.
He noted that maintenance savings, such as no oil changes and fewer filters, can be substantial, with some reports suggesting 50% to two-thirds lower daily operating costs for EVs, depending on geography and weather.
“It’s more cost-effective to operate it day-to-day, compared to a diesel bus, and that’s cost savings for the state as well as the local districts,” Parks said.
Federal incentives through the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program have helped districts nationwide order more of these buses.
The Impact of Federal Funding & Risk of Losing it
Despite clear wins in clean school bus manufacturing, recent months have brought turbulence. In mid-2025, the EPA froze roughly $1 billion in reimbursements for 3,400 electric school buses due to political and administrative disputes. Nearly 500 school districts faced delays or funding gaps, forcing some to postpone purchases or rely more heavily on state-level programs. The current administration also failed to release the most recent annual allocation of Clean School Bus funds, an announcement that was anticipated at the beginning of 2025.
“The public funding has just been critical. It’s been the reason that this has gotten off the ground,” Parks said.
Without a stable federal funding pipeline, the push for electric school buses could stall, especially in less affluent districts that can’t front the costs.
What Happens Next?
Blue Bird aims to bring its new EV facility entirely online, creating more than 400 new jobs and boosting production capacity well beyond its current levels.
Thomas Built continues to refine its electric lineup, with new-generation models like the 2025 Jouley and potential future long-range options.
Policymakers and industry leaders face a choice: secure and expand funding to meet climate and public health goals, or let our nation’s children continue to breathe in toxic tailpipe emissions on their ride to school.
Federal investment from BIL and IRA has turned the Southeast into a surprising hub for electric school bus production, creating hundreds of new jobs and accelerating the shift to zero-emission transportation. But sustaining that progress will require steady policy support, continued investment in manufacturing and charging infrastructure, and a commitment to ensuring these benefits reach every community, not just those that can afford to wait out funding freezes.
