GreenPower Motor Company Inc. is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

electric bus An electric bus is a bus that is propelled using electric motors, as opposed to a conventional internal combustion engine. Electric buses can store the needed electrical energy on board, or be fed mains electricity continuously from an external ...

manufacturer and distributor in North America. The company fabricates multiple zero-emission models, including

transit bus A transit bus (also big bus, commuter bus, city bus, town bus, urban bus, stage bus, public bus, public transit bus, or simply bus) is a type of bus used in public transport bus services. Several configurations are used, including low-floo ...

es,

school bus A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to Student transport, transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter ...

es, and

double decker buses Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A 2 ...

. GreenPower headquarters are in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, with a sales office in

Rancho Cucamonga, California Rancho Cucamonga ( ) is a city located just south of the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and Angeles National Forest in San Bernardino County, California, United States. About east of Downtown Los Angeles, Rancho Cucamonga is the List ...

; an assembly facility in

Porterville, California Porterville is a city at the base of Southern Sierra Nevada mountains on the eastern side of San Joaquin Valley, in Tulare County, California, United States. It is part of the Visalia-Porterville metropolitan statistical area. Serving as the ...

; and a production facility in

South Charleston, West Virginia South Charleston is a city in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States. It is located to the west of the state capital of Charleston. The population was 13,639 at the 2020 census. It was established in 1906, but not incorporated until 1917. ...

. Its stock is traded on

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

the United States. Its subsidiaries include Electric Vehicle Logistics Inc., GreenPower Industries Inc., GreenPower Manufacturing WV Inc., GreenPower Motor Company, Inc., Green-Power Private Ltd., Lion Truck Body Incorporated, and San Joaquin Valley Equipment Leasing, Inc.

History

GreenPower was incorporated in Canada in 2010 to manufacture affordable electric buses and vans. In 2014, GreenPower launched an EV350 model, a forty-foot, all-electric transit bus combining electric drive and battery technologies with a lightweight

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

and low-floor body. The EV350 was designed by Xiamen Fengtai Bus & Coach International Co., Ltd in China. It was assembled by Fengtai and imported in July 2014 through the

Port of Long Beach The Port of Long Beach, administered as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies of land wi ...

. The prototype unit was subsequently used as a demonstration unit for transit agencies in the western United States and Canada. In 2016, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority and CVS Tours in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

purchased a double-decker EV550 bus from GreenPower for US$1.3 million. It was the first purpose-built double-decker electric bus in North America. The EV550 seats 100 passengers, plus standees, and has a range of over . In 2016, the company acquired a plot on Hope Drive in

, to build a manufacturing facility for roughly $10 million. The firm stated it would initially have sixty employees, but project growth to 1,000 workers. In March 2017, the City of Porterville, California, ordered ten GreenPower EV350 buses and charging infrastructure for nine million dollars. With this purchase, Porterville became the first municipality to operate an all-electric and zero-emission transit fleet in California. However, in April 2021, GreenPower had yet to construct its manufacturing facility. In the fall of 2016. GreenPower released Synapse, the line of all-electric school and shuttle buses. The Synapse has a model that seats 37 passengers and a model that seats 49 passengers. The

California Air Resources Board The California Air Resources Board (CARB or ARB) is an agency of the government of California that aims to reduce air pollution. Established in 1967 when then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air S ...

approved the Synapse for its Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project. This approval meant purchasers of the Synapse would earn a $95,000 incentive, in addition to other, previously existing incentives. In August 2017, GreenPower sold eleven Synapse buses to six schools in the North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District and

South Coast Air Quality Management District The South Coast Air Quality Management District, also using the acronym South Coast (AQMD), formed in 1976, is the air pollution agency responsible for regulating stationary sources of air pollution in the South Coast Air Basin and the Coachel ...

in California. In 2018, GreenPower launched the EV Star minibus in 2018. The EV Star can travel between per charge; charging takes eight hours with a J1172 Level 2 charger or ninety minutes with a DC fast charger. Several interior configurations are possible, including one that seats seventeen passengers. The

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

purchased two EV Stars. Its cost ranges from US$190,000 to US$240,000 before federal and state incentives. In 2020, the Thermalito Union Elementary School District in Thermalito, California ordered six BEAST (Battery Electric Automotive School Transportation) school buses from GreenPower. Delivered in December, the purpose-built 40-foot school buses have a range of up to . According to a GreenPower statement, it was the company's largest delivery of school buses to date. In August 2020, GreenPower issued stock through Nasdaq; shares started at $8, rose to $34, and declined to $18 by April 2021. Delays in the company's growth were in part due to GreenPower's "refusal to carry out accepted crash tests on their large buses—a requirement for federal funds that transit agencies use to buy the vehicles." In addition, GreenPower's vehicles are manufactured in China, with minor modifications being made in the United States, meaning they were not compliant with President Biden's "Buy America" program. The federal government gives agencies funds towards electric bus purchases, but 75% of the vehicle's parts must be made in the United States to comply to Buy America. In 2021, GreenPower entered into an exclusive agreement with Forest River, a manufacturer of cutaway minibusses and

recreational vehicle A recreational vehicle, often abbreviated as RV, is a motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation. Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, coaches, caravans (also known as travel trailers and ca ...

s. GreenPower EV Star cabs and chassis to Forest River. In August 2022, GreenPower opened a production facility in the South Charleston Industrial Park in

. GreenPower leased a building where it plans to manufacture electric buses. The Workforce Development Board of Kanawha County offered BridgeValley Community and Technical College students funding for training, transportation, books, and childcare to prepare for employment with GreenPower.

Vehicles

Minibuses

* EV Star * EV Star Max seating * EV Star Cargo * EV Star Cab * EV Star CC

School bus

* BEAST. (Battery Electric Automotive School Transportation) * Nano BEAST * Synapse

Transit and coach buses

* EV250 * EV350 * EV500 * EV550 (double-decker)

References

{{North American School Bus Manufacturers 2010 establishments in Canada Electric bus manufacturers School bus manufacturers Bus manufacturers of Canada Companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange Electric vehicle manufacturers of Canada Companies listed on the Nasdaq