One of four electric school buses so far manufactured at GreenPower Motor Company in South Charleston, W.Va., will go to Kanawha County Schools. The others will go to Cabell, Clay and Monongalia counties. (Lori Kersey | West Virginia Watch)
BY: LORI KERSEY – DECEMBER 14, 2023 6:00 AM
The first four electric school buses manufactured by GreenPower Motor Company in West Virginia are on their way to school districts in the state.
The Type A Nano BEAST — an all-electric, zero-emission 24-seat school bus — will be delivered to schools in Cabell, Kanawha, Clay and Monongalia counties.
As part of the company’s agreement to lease/purchase the South Charleston facility, the state of West Virginia committed $15 million to purchase the four buses along with 37 of the larger Type D BEAST. The rest of the buses are to be delivered by the end of 2024.
Speaking during an event marking the occasion Wednesday at the South Charleston facility, West Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, said the company’s presence in the state is proof lawmakers are meeting their objective to make the state the easy choice to locate or expand a business.
“It’s the workforce that we have here, it’s the locality that we have here, it’s all the things that West Virginia has to offer companies all around the world that make today possible, that make today successful,” Hanshaw said. “But we know this is the beginning and not the end.”
In January 2022, the company and Gov. Jim Justice announced plans for the Canada and California-based company to lease/purchase the 80,000 square foot facility on 9.5 acres in South Charleston to build zero-emission, all-electric school buses.
The company’s agreement with the state required no upfront costs and monthly payments of $50,000 starting nine months after production started. The title will be given to GreenPower once lease and payments and incentives total $6.7 million. The state agreed to lower the purchase price by $500,000 beginning with the company’s 300th full-time employee and for each incremental 100 employees.
Cabell County Schools Superintendent Ryan Saxe said the electric bus represents an exciting new chapter for the school district in exploring clean energy transportation for students. The school district is contracting with DC-America, an electric vehicle manufacturer in Cabell County, to install two charging stations for the school bus.
“I think the biggest thing for us is that we are able to put something on the road that was manufactured right here in West Virginia, that put West Virginians to work,” Saxe said.
In Kanawha County, the electric bus will go to the St. Albans bus garage, which services the St. Albans, Cross Lanes/Nitro and Spring Hill areas, Superintendent Tom Williams said. The bus, which is accessible to wheelchair users, will be used for special needs students, he said.
In addition to the state-funded bus, Kanawha County Schools board also approved the purchase of an 84-passenger GreenPower bus for $377,500 earlier this year. The bus is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2024.
Williams said former students of the school district have gotten jobs with the manufacturer.
“I think that is the most important impact that we have,” he said. “We’re able to keep our young people here in West Virginia where they can make a good salary and raise their families here in West Virginia.”
Mark Nesten, vice president of business development and strategy for GreenPower, said the company so far has 43 employees. It partners with Bridge Valley Community and Technical College to train employees.
The company plans a “hiring surge” after the first of the year for another 60 employees as it ramps up production of the Beast, Nesten said. The jobs pay between $18 and $20 per hour depending on training and education, he said.
The company is on track to have 200 employees by the end of 2024, he said.
Nesten said many states are moving toward electric school businesses with incentives, mandates or both. The company’s West Virginia facility is well situated to sell to school districts on the East Coast, he said.
Driving the electric vehicles and stopping to charge them is not feasible, and shipping them would cost thousands of dollars, so manufacturers have to produce them in the markets they want to sell in, he said.
“That’s why having something on the East Coast was so important,” he said.
He added that having the company there has been good for the local economy.
“Economic activity here has been tremendous because of what we’ve already done,” he said. “We’re putting people to work, and most importantly, we’re now transporting kids in West Virginia on a cleaner ride.”
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