Electrifying School Buses in the Bronx and Beyond (ESB3)

Emissions from diesel school buses are harmful to children and disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities like those found near the Zerega school bus depot in the Bronx. While electric school buses (ESBs) are commercially available, significant deployment barriers remain including driver and mechanic knowledge gaps and the difficulties of planning charging infrastructure.

Project Electrifying School Buses in the Bronx and Beyond (ESB3) addresses these challenges. NYCSBUS , WRI, NYLCV, Mobility House, and CALSTART are working on a multi-pronged project to help electrify buses in the Bronx and around the state, conduct charging infrastructure planning to reduce costs, and help train the electric school bus workforce.

Project ESB3 will deploy 30 ESBs at the NYCSBUS Bronx Zerega depot. The project strategy will be replicated to electrify the entire NYCSBUS 960 bus fleet by 2035. 

The project takes a holistic three-pronged approach.

First, the Zerega depot will serve as a hub for specialized EV training. The facility, with technical college partnerships, will be a hands-on training center teaching how to operate and maintain ESBs and electrical infrastructure. 

Second, the ESB3 project will develop customize managed charging plans and networked chargers to control costs from demand and time-of-use charges. Complimenting vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology at the Zerega depot, NYCSBUS's Greenpoint dispatch center facility will serve as a testbed for infrastructure configurations, including vehicle-to-building (V2B) operations and space-saving innovations like pole-mounted chargers, which will also feed into the Innovation Cluster's curriculum.

Third, the team will partner with additional school districts around the state to offer technical guidance as school districts make their transition to electric school buses.