GreenPower Motor Company ordered 35 Type D all-electric, purpose-built school buses for the California market. GreenPower said it received the orders from its exclusive California dealer Model 1 (formerly Creative Bus Sales) for 25 of the Mega Beast school buses for the Montebello school district and 10 Beast school buses for the Garden Grove school district. Funding for the all-electric, zero-emission school buses comes from both the California HVIP program and the EPA Clean School Bus Program, GreenPower said.

In the past month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation requiring all new school buses in California to be electric by 2035. With that action, California joined Connecticut, Maine, Maryland and New York in mandating the switch to all-electric, zero-emission school buses in fleets over the next four to 17 years.

GreenPower said its Beast is a 40-foot Type D all-electric, purpose-built, zero-emission school bus that can seat up to 90 passengers with standard features that include air ride suspension and ABS disc brakes.

The Mega Beast, introduced on October 31, delivers a class-leading range of up to 300 miles on a single charge via a 387 kWh battery pack, GreenPower said. It provides for the longest range and has the biggest battery pack in the school bus market. The Mega BEAST is designed to provide the answer for longer-range routes and other desired uses by a school district. The extended range created by the larger battery pack is an ideal solution for many rural school districts with longer routes, school districts with less chance for mid-day opportunity charging, school districts that face extreme weather conditions and schools that also use the all-electric bus for extra-curricular activities, GreenPower said.