New GreenPower Electric School Bus Plant Announced As Concern For Student Health Builds

GreenPower, a major producer of electric school buses, medium and heavy duty vehicles, said Wednesday it has struck a deal with the state of West Virginia to lease/purchase a property in order to begin building battery-electric, zero emission buses there.

It’s a move that comes as concern builds regarding the harmful effects to students from breathing in harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter emissions from the primarily diesel-powered buses.

“For K to 6 children it does affect development of their lungs,” said GreenPower Chairman and CEO Fraser Atkinson in an interview. “It lasts for the rest of their lives and impacts their health. We’re not talking about just lung cancer, but other respiratory illnesses such as asthma.”

Just last week New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul said in her State of the State address she will propose legislation to mandate by 2027 all new school bus purchases will be zero-emissions and 100% of that state’s school buses be electric by 2035 in order to reduce overall emissions and improve student health.

“There are roughly 50,000 school buses on streets in New York State, polluting the communities they operate in with harmful emissions. It is estimated that fully electrifying school buses in New York City alone would be the equivalent of taking nearly 650,000 passenger vehicles off the road,” Hochul said in her speech.

A 2019 study by Georgia State University that looked into how diesel emissions from school buses affected students found “Nearly 25 million children ride over 500,000 buses to school in the United States each day. The predominantly diesel bus fleet contributes to air pollution exposure that may adversely affect children’s health and academic performance.”

GreenPower’s Atkinson says when students ride zero-emission buses, that change is reflected in their performance and overall demeanor.

“Anecdotally, evidence is, and you can see it when kids arrive to school, they’re more alert, not as tired and that means they’re better situated for a learning experience than if they got off diesel-emitting school buses as they have every day for years and years,” he said .

In its joint announcement with the State of West Virginia GreenPower said it will lease/purchase properties in South Charleston with 9.5 acres and an 80,000 square foot building with no cash up front and monthly lease payments of $50,000 beginning in the ninth month of production.

The deal includes up to $3.5 million in employment incentive payments from West Virginia to GreenPower for up to 900 jobs created in the state as production increases over time. Combined with the lease payments once the total payments reach $6.7 million then title to the properties will be transferred to GreenPower.

GreenPower expects production to begin by mid-year.

The new plant will be GreenPower’s first electric school bus factory east of the Mississippi River. Atkinson said he expects business to be so brisk the operation will require multiple work shifts and the additional land parcel will provide room for expansion.

It’s a necessary move since GreenPower’s Southern California plant is already “absolutely full,” Atkinson said.

While West Virginia agreed to purchase a minimum of $15 million in zero-emission GreenPower school buses Atkinson sees the potential to book $40-50 million in sales from the new facility.

“West Virginia is ideally positioned to lead the nation in transitioning to electrification of the transportation network, battery research and development, and environmentally sustainable vehicles. We look forward to a great partnership with GreenPower as they are welcomed to our state as a respected corporate citizen,” said Mitch Carmichael, Secretary of Economic Development in West Virginia in remarks prepared for delivery at a Wednesday news conference in Charleston.

Initially, production will be focused on what’s known as Type D electric school buses. Those are buses with flat front ends that are similar to buses used in transit systems. That configuration makes it easier for drivers to see small children, according to Atkinson.

GreenPower produces a Type D electric bus it calls BEAST, an acronym for Battery Electric Automotive School Transportation. The 40-foot long coach seats 90 passengers and has a driving range of up to 150 miles.

Eventually, the company could add Type A buses which are similar to shuttle vans able to accommodate students in wheelchairs, Atkinson said.

After repeatedly running into situations where electric vehicle school customers did not have recharging stations installed when the products arrived, GreenPower decided to jump into the process.

“Last year we said we’ve had enough of this,” Atkinson recalled. “What we’d like to do is offer the customer a full solution. It will be a one-stop system. It won’t just be a charging station but it will be all of the infrastructure requirement to deliver and operate that vehicle on an ongoing basis.”

GreenPower EVs are equipped with dual ports which allow them to be recharged using either level 2 or DC fast chargers.

One of the keys to the deal with West Virginia was the availability of federal funding to augment the state’s contribution. There could be more coming with the passage of the federal infrastructure bill which includes a proposal for $5 billion for zero emission school buses.

That money would give states even more impetus to support electric school bus production in order to protect students from harmful emissions.

Indeed, Atkinson wryly notes, mandates to build the buses are welcome, but “you still need some of the cash or vouchers or incentives to give you that spark. You need the mandate but in order to push that mandate you need that spark.”