Canadian electric bus manufacturer GreenPower Motor Co. has signed a lease/purchase agreement with the state of West Virginia for establishing a factory in South Charleston, West Virginia, to manufacture zero-emission school buses.
As part of the arrangement, GreenPower will acquire an 80,000 square foot building and properties spread over an area of 9.5 acres. Under the terms of the deal, the company is exempted from paying any cash up front, and the monthly lease payments will start nine months after the commencement of production at the facility. GreenPower will be able to assume the title to the properties once it pays $6.7 million in total lease and incentives.
The factory is expected to commission in the second half of 2022.
GreenPower’s President Brendan Riley said, “GreenPower is pleased to announce that its zero-emission, all-electric school bus manufacturing operations are expanding east of the Mississippi River with West Virginia becoming our school bus manufacturing base of operations for the region.”
“The state has agreed to facilitate the purchase of a minimum of $15 million in zero-emission GreenPower school buses produced at the facility,” he added.
“Children are more susceptible to air pollution than healthy adults because their respiratory systems are still developing and they have faster breathing rates,” Riley said while citing findings from the Natural Resources Defense Council studies, which have estimated that school bus diesel fumes expose children to as much as 46 times the cancer risk considered significant under federal law.
Riley appreciated the state’s move stating, “This investment represents a unique opportunity for West Virginia to improve the long-term health, development and academic performance of school-aged children, while combating pollution and reducing carbon emissions. The $15 million investment by West Virginia will leverage funds from other incentive programs to substantially increase the number of GreenPower school buses on the roads in West Virginia.”
Additionally, GreenPower is also entitled to receive up to $3.5 million in employment incentive payments for creating jobs in West Virginia, as production grows.
