Yellow school bus maker Blue Bird has delivered its 1,500th electric school bus. Modesto City Schools in California purchased the historic EV through Blue Bird’s authorized school bus dealer A-Z Bus Sales.

Modesto’s milestone unit is one of 1,500 Blue Bird electric school buses now serving school districts across 41 US states. The company says replacing 1,500 diesel-spewing buses with EVs has reduced carbon emissions by nearly 16,000 metric tons annually, and spared 110,000 students per day from breathing diesel tailpipe emissions.

Blue Bird’s e-buses are powered by the electric PowerDrive 7000 system from Accelera by Cummins, which represents a long-standing collaboration between the two companies.

Blue Bird recently celebrated the grand opening of its EV Build-up Center, which will enable the company to increase its long-term production capacity to 5,000 electric school buses a year.

“Blue Bird is recognized as the technology leader and innovator of low- and zero-emission school buses,” said Blue Bird President Britton Smith. “The demand for clean and sustainable school bus transportation remains high. Therefore, Blue Bird continues to significantly expand its electric school bus production.”

Source: Blue Bird