From 2026 Israel would use electric buses only, as the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection announced on Tuesday, February 1.

Ministry of Environment added that by 2024 at least 30 percent of the buses purchased would be zero emissions, and by 2025 more than half of the buses would be emission-free.

By 2036, as part of the efforts to electrify public transportation, the statement added that all municipal public transit would be zero-emissions 2036.

Today, diesel-powered buses account for less than 1 percent of all vehicles in Israel but emit nearly 16 percent of all nitrogen oxides and almost 7 percent of all soot particles emitted.

The directives do not come out of the blue. In August 2021, the government of Israel had increased their funding towards electric buses.

The latest budget was 59 million shekels, which is around 15 million euros and it gave to help transport companies purchase 200 electric buses as per reports.

Egged is one of the gigantic bus companies in the whole country, had followed suit in November 2021 and also ordered e-buses from BYD, which is set to arrive this year.

However, the country’s government made no new announcements related to the funding opportunities to help bus operators so that they can reach the targets.

However, the ministry concluded that electric buses cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80 percent and reduced noise threefold.