A Long Island school community is getting a quieter, cleaner ride to class.
Copiague Public Schools will begin rolling out 10 new battery-electric school buses as part of an initial electrification phase announced this week, with the goal of cutting diesel emissions and improving local air quality for students and neighborhoods along daily bus routes.
Who’s involved
The project is a partnership between Educational Bus Transportation (EBT)—a major school transportation provider in Nassau and western Suffolk—and Zenobē, a fleet electrification company that will help deliver a “turnkey” approach that includes charging infrastructure and battery/charging management.
EBT provides transportation for multiple Long Island districts, including Copiague, Massapequa, Amityville, Seaford, Wantagh, Farmingdale, South Huntington, Half Hollow Hills, Bethpage, Hicksville, and Western Suffolk BOCES, among others—meaning the lessons learned in Copiague could help shape additional deployments across the region.
How it’s being paid for
Funding is coming largely through the New York School Bus Incentive Program, administered by NYSERDA, with Zenobē also contributing additional funding.
Long Island Business News reports the effort is tied to New York’s broader clean transportation push, noting the Environmental Bond Act approved in November 2022 included $500 million aimed at supporting the transition to zero-emission school buses.
What students and families can expect
Electric school buses don’t just reduce tailpipe pollution—they also tend to be quieter and can cut down on the exhaust that typically lingers near school entrances, sidewalks, and bus stops.
According to NYSERDA information cited by Long Island Business News, today’s electric school buses can typically travel about 100 to 200 miles on a full charge—and since New York school buses average around 80 miles per day, overnight charging can often cover daily routes while taking advantage of lower off-peak electric rates.
Why this matters statewide—and on Long Island
New York has been moving aggressively toward cleaner school transportation. By next year, all new school buses sold for use in New York State are expected to be zero-emission, and the state’s broader target is a fully zero-emission school bus fleet by 2035.
For Copiague, this first batch of 10 buses is a starting point. Zenobē says the charging setup is being designed to be scalable, allowing the fleet to expand over time as capacity and funding grow
