California District Orders 6 GreenPower Electric School Buses

Oroville, Calif.-based Thermalito Union Elementary School District will soon add six GreenPower electric school buses to its fleet.

The buses, also known as B.E.A.S.T., were purchased through GreenPower’s national distributor Creative Bus Sales, according to a news release from the electric bus manufacturer.

The B.E.A.S.T. is a Type D electric school bus with a range of up to 150 miles and a 194.5kWh battery pack, according to GreenPower. The vehicles can reportedly charge up to 20kW on standard J1772 protocol and has CCS1 fast charging, with additional standard features such as air ride suspension, pass through storage, and air disk brakes. The B.E.A.S.T. also offers a monocoque chassis design.

“The sale of six units to the Thermalito Union School District is a great example of how GreenPower is working with customers and our sales partners to leverage multiple incentive programs to bring our all-electric school bus to market,” said Brendan Riley, president of GreenPower. “This is a trend we expect to accelerate within California, [and] then spread to other states as a template.”

Butte County Air Quality Management District will fund the purchase of one of the electric school buses through its clean vehicle incentive program, which offers grants to aid in the reduction of emissions and the impact of air quality, according to GreenPower.

The five remaining electric buses will be funded through the California Clean Energy Jobs Act Prop 39, which has awarded more than $1.7 billion to schools over the last five years to plan and install energy efficiency upgrades, clean energy generation measures, and zero emissions transportation, according to GreenPower.

Ryne Shetterly, GreenPower's vice president of sales and marketing, added that “Creative Bus Sales has worked hard with GreenPower to bring together demonstrations to school districts,” and that the two will continue to partner and “push deals forward.”