GreenPower Motor, a manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty EVs, has secured new orders for 35 Type D electric school buses from two California school districts.

The Garden Grove School District ordered 10 BEAST school buses, and the Montebello School District ordered 25 Mega BEAST buses. The orders were placed through GreenPower’s exclusive California dealer Model 1 (formerly Creative Bus Sales). Funding for the electric buses was provided by the California HVIP program and the EPA Clean School Bus Program.

GreenPower’s BEAST is a 40-foot Type D electric school bus that can seat up to 90 passengers. It’s built on a monocoque chassis featuring a seamlessly integrated aluminum body and chassis design. Standard features include air ride suspension, ABS disk brakes and pass-through storage.

The Mega BEAST sports a 387 kWh battery pack (which GreenPower claims is the biggest in the school bus market) and boasts a range of up to 300 miles. It’s designed for school districts with longer routes, extreme weather and/or extra-curricular activities. The larger battery of the Mega BEAST is V2G-capable.

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed legislation requiring all new school buses in California to be electric by 2035. The transition is projected to cost around $5 billion, but numerous public funding programs are available. The California HVIP program offers $370,000 for a Type D BEAST school bus ($395,000 for a model with a wheelchair lift) or $285,000 for a Type A Nano BEAST ($310,000 with a wheelchair lift).

“The Montebello order of the Mega BEAST comes just a few weeks after our launch of the new option, showing an immediate demand for the product,” said Michael Perez, GreenPower’s VP of School Bus, Contracts and Grants. “We continue to work closely with our dealer in California to help school districts plan for the deployment of electric school buses that meet their specific needs instead of NOx-emitting diesel buses.”

Source: GreenPower