Iconic yellow college bus maker Blue Bird opens new electrical bus manufacturing facility

Blue Bird, a century-old producer of America’s iconic yellow college buses, has opened a brand new manufacturing facility to fulfill the rising demand for electrical college buses. Announced by way of a press launch (and an lovable promotional video) on Thursday, a brand new 40,000 sq. foot “Electric Vehicle Build-Up Center” has been opened at Blue Bird’s foremost manufacturing plant in Fort Valley, Georgia, designed to extend the corporate’s manufacturing of electrical college buses from 100 per yr to five,000.

Electric variations of Blue Bird’s “Vision” (a traditional “Type C” bus with capability for 77 passengers) and “All American” (a flat-fronted “Type D” bus for 84 passengers) buses shall be assembled on the new facility, every geared up with a 155kWh battery that gives round 120 miles of vary and takes between three to eight hours to recharge. There are practically 1,000 Blue Bird electrical buses presently in operation, making up six % of the corporate’s complete quantity. The firm presently builds 4 electrical college buses every day, however hopes that its new EV facility will improve manufacturing to twenty buses a day.

Blue Bird is anticipating a major improve in demand for electrical college buses. School districts throughout the US and Canada have already begun changing their historically powered bus fleets with all-electric fashions in a bid to scale back dangerous greenhouse gasoline emissions, save on gasoline prices, and enhance the well being of scholars. In the US particularly, gross sales of electrical college buses are anticipated to extend because of the billions of {dollars} in incentives accessible beneath President Biden’s infrastructure plan. 

“Based on the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law alone we anticipate 1000’s of further electrical college bus orders valued at an estimated $1 billion over 5 years,” mentioned Phil Horlock, president and CEO of Blue Bird Corporation. “Our new EV Build-up Center displays Blue Bird’s steadfast dedication to highschool districts throughout the U.S. and Canada to fulfill rising demand and ship clear, secure, and dependable pupil transportation after they want it.”

School buses are a great candidate to transition away from conventional fuels like diesel (which now makes up lower than half of Blue Bird’s quantity). Besides stopping college youngsters from being uncovered to dangerous emissions, the quick, fastened route of faculty buses are properly suited to range-limited EVs. They even have lengthy durations exterior of the twice-daily college runs the place they’re not in operation, giving them loads of time to recharge.

In the face of overwhelming demand, the Biden-Harris administration nearly doubled the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) money pool for its Clean School Bus Program rebate final yr from $500 million to $965 million. According to the EPA’s newly proposed greenhouse gasoline emissions requirements for heavy-duty automobiles, the company anticipates that 45 % of all college buses produced by 2032 shall be EVs.