The full New Jersey state Senate approved legislation Monday that would require the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to develop and implement an electric school bus program. The bill (S4077) , of which Senator Patrick J. Diegnan Jr., D-Middlesex, is the primary sponsor, would fund for three years the purchase of new electric school buses and the necessary charging infrastructure in a minimum of 18 New Jersey school districts. At least half of those districts would be located in a “low-income, urban, or environmental justice community” as defined pursuant to state law. The Senate approved the measure 35-3 with two members of the upper house not voting. On a typical school day, more than 800,000 New Jersey students ride to and from school on one of the state’s 15,000 diesel school buses. The sticker price of a new electric school bus can be nearly triple that of […]