Lightning eMotors announced it sold five Lightning eMotors ZEV4 shuttle buses to St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL). STL partner SP Plus Parking (SP Plus) will operate the vehicles, transporting passengers between the airport’s two terminals. The deal also includes five level 2 chargers and one level 3 DC fast charger, currently set for delivery later this year.

STL received a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 2023 Airport Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) and Infrastructure Pilot Program grant to help fund the purchase of the vehicles and chargers. These grants are only available for the purchase of FAA Buy American-compliant vehicles. To ensure its customers could access some of the more than $5 billion in available FTA/FAA funding, Lightning eMotors has certified the ZEV4 product line to be both FAA Buy American and FTA Buy America compliant.

Lightning eMotors has other examples of being the manufacturer of choice for airport deployments. For example, ACE Parking’s fleet of 24 Lightning eMotors shuttle buses at San Diego International Airport has amassed over one million miles since 2020 and continues to provide emissions-free transport to hundreds of passengers each day, the company said. In addition, Lightning eMotors recently completed a test of its Lightning eMotors Mobile charger at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

The five Lightning eMotors ZEV4 cutaway vehicles are built on Lightning eMotors’s second generation, GM4500-based platform and will be fitted with shuttle bodies, the company said. They are expected to travel 100 miles per shift, with at least one operating around the clock using the Lightning eMotors-supplied DC fast charger during charging breaks, while the others will be used daily and charged overnight on Level 2 chargers. Lightning eMotors will also train local service providers to maintain the airport’s first EVs.