Why doesn't Canada have more electric school buses?

For anyone who spent their childhood ridingstinky, noisyschool buses, it's a revelation to climbaboard one of theelectric models coming off the assembly line at Lion Electric in Saint-Jrme, Que., northwest of Montreal.

"The only thing you hear is the wheels on the road," said founder and CEO Marc Bdard.

Proponents believe kids who ride e-buses show up calmer and more focused for school. U.S. data linking test scores to diesel fumesbacks them up. But so far, only about two per cent of Canadian school buses offer students this advantage.

Bdardand his team are motivated to delivertechnologythat helps kids not to mentionthe planet they'reincreasingly anxious about inheriting. But likemany green entrepreneurs, he's facedchallenges.Bdardlays one of his current problemsat the feet of the federal government.

"There's nothing worse than announcing a program and not deploying it," he said, adding he's frustratedby the slow pace of the federal approval process for theZero Emission Transit Fund (ZETF).

This $2.75-billion fund was one of then-infrastructure minister Catherine McKenna's final announcements before the 2021 election. Alongsidethe $1.67 billion available in loan financing from the Canada Infrastructure Bank, bus operators were supposed to be able tooffset thehigh startup costs of transitioning to anelectric fleet.

E-school buses are cheaper to operate and canpay for themselves over the long run. But their initialprice tag isdouble what diesel replacements cost. The short-term contracts of private service providers, which supply most of the bus service across Canada, don't always provide incentives for longer-term change without government subsidies.

Federal delays contributed to layoffs: CEO

Based on the government's objectives for this fund,Bdardbudgeted for Lion the only manufacturer that makes exclusivelyelectric models to deliver about 500 buses a year for the duration of the five-year program.

In fact, his first order to be approved for federal financingtook about two and a half years. Two hundrede-buses were finally greenlitin June forLangs Bus Lines in southwestern Ontario.

Thisgap between what Lion had ramped up to deliver and the slower pace of federal approvals hit the company'sfinances hard. Bdardsaid he was forced to lay off 700 employeesearlier this year.

"We're behind. That's a shame," the CEO said, adding hisemployees would love to come back and help Canada catch up to school districts in the U.S. thathave received more timely government support.

"We have over 1,000 units in our order book. We have a lot of operators that want to electrify their fleet right now and today they are [still] waiting for an approval."

Several dozen buses were rolling outwhenCBC News visited theLion Electric facility. Some with white roofs and English lettering were destined for Americanschool districts. Others with distinctive blue bumpers will soon carryQuebec students.

Both federal and provincial politicians have visited Lion Electric's facilitiesseveral times, touting itsbatteries, trucks and buses toshowcase government climate initiatives.

Quebec Premier Franois Legault's government has done more to walk the walk than any other provincial jurisdiction.Quebec now has a mandate to replaceschool bus fleets only withlocally-sourcedelectric buses from now on, andprovincial rebates coverabout half the cost of eachnew bus.

The Canadian Electric School Bus Alliance a coalition of advocates pushing for an all-electric school fleet by 2040 estimates that of the roughly 1,200 electric school buses taking Canadian kids to school this fall, about 1,000 are in Quebec.

Canada's most common bus

There are more school buses on Canadian roads than any other type. At current pricing, you can replace three diesel school buses for the cost of one emissions-free public transit bus so focusing federal funding on school buses would deliver more emissions-cutting bang for the buck.

School buses are also ideal for electrification. They have predictable local routes each day, and return to consistent parking locations off-hours for predictableand affordable re-charging. (Lion's batteries can alsostore and return power to the grid to help meet peak or emergency demand, especially in remote locations.)

Nevertheless, onlytwo per cent of the 51,000 vehicles in Canada's school bus fleet are electric at the moment. To reach the Alliance's objectiveofweaning that fleet off diesel by 2040, bus operators would have to procure more than 2,800 green vehicles per year. They're nowhere near that pace.

And some operatorsare still buying new diesel buses because that's all they can afford. Based on current lifespans, those polluterswill still be emittingon Canada's roads15 years from now.

Prince Edward Island faced that dilemma this summer. That small provincial government administers its own student busingand was an early adopter of e-buses. There weregrowing pains. But P.E.I. applied for federal fundingto buy 207 more e-buses tokeep scaling up.

That approval hasn'tcome. In the meantime, older diesel buses breakdown. Faced with not having enough vehicles, the province reversed gears and bought30 diesel replacements while awaitingword onfederal assistance.

"I think if you look across Canada, you'll see all kinds of jurisdictions that are planning to switch to electric buses that are kind of in limbo while they wait for this funding," said Steven Myers, P.E.I.'s minister of environment, energy and climate action.

Many needs, shrinking fund

TheZero Emission Transit Fund wasn't set up exclusively to electrifyschool transportation. From its outset, federal officials said the moneywas intended to help purchase 5,000public transit or school buses over five years. At the moment, the fund's swampedwith applicationsfrom cities thatcan't afford to greentheir transit systems withouthelp.

The ZETFalso took a haircut last year trimmed to $2.4 billion as part of the government's push to cut spending across departments.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Sean Fraser has saidmore school bus announcements are coming. But he's also hinted that school bus operators are competing with municipalities. So jurisdictional politics may be afoot, with federal and provincial governments passing this potato around.

"Keep in mind we traditionally don't, in federal politics, develop programs designed for provincial education systems, but more often have developedprograms to respond to applications by municipalities to improve transit more broadly," the minister told CBC News duringa conference in Ottawa for Ontario municipalities.

"If you think about it, school buses are transit. They're public transit for our kids," saidMiriam Ponette, a public policy researcher with Green Communities Canada, one of the coordinators of the Canadian Electric School Bus Alliance.

Ponettesaid she questionswhether the benefits of electrificationare rolling out equitably, particularly given the fact thatkids have very long rides on diesel buses far longer than many adults siton public transit.

"Communities that ... have suffered already from environmental pollution should be prioritized and getting the cleaner buses," she said. "We have to be thinking about Indigenous communities and rural communities who may have different challenges in accessing funding.

"Diesel fumes are a known carcinogen. Something that was very surprising to me is thatthereare more diesel fumes inside the bus than outside the bus.

"Children have a lot of climate anxiety. By transitioning to electric school buses first, we're helping with kids mental health.They can see this important part of their lives as being part of the change."