Ford is building electric school buses; you heard that right. The automaker is offering a Type A electric school bus package based on its top-selling E-Transit commercial van.

Ford introduces an electric Type A school bus

The E-Transit was first introduced by Ford back in 2020 as an all-electric smart workhorse version of its best-selling cargo van to power the future of business.

Ford was the first full-line automaker in North America to launch an all-electric cargo van, and it has quickly climbed the sales charts ever since. When Ford began disclosing E-Transit sales last July, the automaker reported a massive 95% control over the electric van market.

Although several competitors have released EV vans this past year, the E-Transit remained on top, selling 6,500 units in the US in 2022; it was also the best-selling in Europe and Canada.

Ford has signed major deals with industry leaders like logistics leader Deutsche Post DHL Group (DHL) and, more recently, to supply 9,250 electric mail trucks to the US Postal Service.

The E-Transit is showing its versatility again, this time as an electric school bus. Wanda Young, global chief marketing and experience officer at Ford Pro, shared an image of the Type A electric school bus on her Twitter based on the E-Transit powertrain at Work Truck Week in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Ford says the E-Transit is the first van from a full-line automaker to offer a Type A school bus on an electric powertrain.

The E-Transit is already shaping up to be a game-changing electric van, saving over 745,000 gallons of gas after its first year on the market. That’s over 4.3 million kg of CO2 saved from entering Earth’s atmosphere!

Compared to traditional gas-powered delivery vans, Ford says driving its low-roof E-Transit can save 57% of the CO2 output over the vehicle’s lifetime.

Electrek’s Take

Talk about an incredible vehicle. The E-Transit is already helping reduce emissions in the commercial delivery and cargo markets, and now postal services and school buses.

With over 25 million children taking the school bus each year, covering around 5.7 billion miles, electrifying our school buses needs to be a priority. Not only do traditional school buses pose harm to the kids and communities they serve, but they can also cost more with maintenance and gas expenses.

New incentives make them nearly free to obtain for school districts, now, it’s time to build more and accelerate the rollout.