PORTERVILLE, Calif. — The Los Angeles Unified School District (USD) has ordered two of GreenPower Motor Co.’s Synapse 72 all-electric school buses.

The school district was awarded $536,000 from the California Air Resources Board and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) for two electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, documentation from the management district shows.

Los Angeles USD has the largest school district fleet in California and the third largest in the nation, according to School Bus Fleet’s most recent Top 100 School District Fleets survey. Survey findings show that the school district’s transportation department operates a fleet of nearly 1,700 school buses and transports nearly 45,000 students to and from school each day.

“We are thrilled to have secured this purchase with L.A. Unified, the largest school bus operator within the state of California,” said Brendan Riley, president of GreenPower. “This order represents not just the first electric school bus for the district, but also the start of what we believe will facilitate further electrification of their fleet in the future. We are proud to be working with a leader like L.A. Unified and are incredibly supportive of the school district’s overall initiative to promote sustainability and reduce student exposure to harmful emissions.”

Another Southern California school district recently received two electric school buses: Colton Joint Unified School District took delivery in September of two electric Type C Starcraft eQuest XL school buses powered by all-electric powertrains from Motiv Power Systems.

Meanwhile, in Northern California, Calaveras Unified School District ordered three GreenPower Synapse 72 all-electric Type D buses from School Bus Sales of California Inc., Adomani's new vehicle distribution-focused subsidiary, for over $1 million.