SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia-based GreenPower Motor Company just received a contract to produce 15 all-electric school buses for the Clark County, Nevada, School District.
The district, including Las Vegas, transports more than 100,000 students every school day and agreed to the purchase at a total cost of nearly $7 million, according to GreenPower Vice President of Business Development and Strategy Mark Nestlen.
Nestlen said they have about 60 people working on the manufacturing floor today in South Charleston and that number will increase steadily. The employees build the buses and also have access to continuing education through an agreement with BridgeValley Community & Technical College.
“We are on track to be running two shifts and meeting that 200 employee goal that we have with the state by the end of 2024,” Nestlen said Monday on “Talk of the Town” on WAJR Radio in Morgantown.
The contract with Clark County for the construction of 15 BEAST models was announced while the company was in Nevada at the School Transportation News Exposition, presenting the results of their 18 school system tests conducted late in ’22 and early in ’23. Nestlen said the buses traveled about 32,000 miles and averaged about 150 miles on a charge on West Virginia roads.
“It performed in all the situations that it was put in,” Nestlen said. “Sometimes I think we put it in situations trying to make it fail just so you could see what the weaknesses were, but that’s the good thing it did not fail.”
Nestlen said the tests showed the batteries had the most difficulty in cold weather conditions. Battery performance was negatively impacted by using air conditioning in warmer conditions, and surprisingly, hills were not a problem for the buses. The buses have regenerative braking systems—a kinetic system that generates power back to the battery while going down hills.
“For example, in Grant County, where the bus was going down Mount Storm, that actually was the best range performance in all of the 18 counties,” Nestlen said.
One of the buses ordered by the state will go to the transportation department of the Monongalia County School District. Nestlen said officials from Monongalia County have been to the South Charleston facility for a tour and a progress update on the build of their new bus. The Monongalia County bus is one of 41 purchased during the last legislative session for $15 million.
“I would hope that bus is able to be delivered in the October or November time frame,” Nestlen said. “There are still a couple little supply chain issues like seats you have to deal with post-pandemic.”