Benzinga | Sep 2, 2021 03:10PM EDT

GreenPower's BEAST EV School Buses Launched at ACT Expo and Is Ready for the Future

Renewable energy is the future. Because of its enormous benefits, concerted efforts by governments across the world to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy are ramping up -- and at a fast rate.

While the number of fossil-powered vehicles currently outweigh electric vehicles (EVs) -- undoubtedly cleaner than fossil cars -- things are quickly changing. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the EV market has recorded rapid growth over the past 10 years. In 2020, the global electric car stock hit the 10 million mark -- a 43% increase over 2019.

China currently has the largest fleet with 4.5 million electric cars. Europe, in 2020, had the largest annual increase of 3.2 million. The IEA predicts that by 2030, 125 million electric vehicles will be owned around the world.

Currently, more than 14 countries and over 20 cities worldwide have proposed a ban on the sale of fossil fuel-powered vehicles. These countries have proposed bans or implementing 100% sales of zero-emission vehicles.

One company helping the world realize its green energy dream at a fast pace is GreenPower Motor Company (NASDAQ:GP). The company, established in 2010, has the vision to advance the adoption of EVs by making battery-electric buses and trucks affordable, durable and easy to deploy.

GreenPower, with its headquarters in Vancouver, Canada and has operations in Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley in California, offers commercial vehicles for delivery, public transit, schools, vanpools, micro-transit, shuttles and more. The company's battery-electric buses can perform almost any route fossil fuel burning competitors are able to, but with a much quieter and more efficient ride.

The company, since its inception, has released several top-of-the-line EVs, including the EV Star lineup that has rave reviews across the world, particularly North America.

The BEAST

At the heart of GreenPower's technology is the environment and the well-being of passengers. Because of this focus, the company is pioneering new school buses that run on renewable energy and improve the health of kids.

The company is introducing EV school buses dubbed BEAST -- battery-electric automotive school transportation. It is a purpose-built, zero-emission, all-electric Type D school bus. It features a Monocoque chassis and has been designed from the ground up to be battery-electric.

The BEAST's standardized features include air-ride suspension, ABS disk brakes and pass-through storage. It has a seating capacity of up to 90 passengers.

Read the full specs of the BEAST here.

Choice of School Bus and Health Issues

Fraser Atkinson, CEO and chairman of GreenPower, speaking in an exclusive interview with Benzinga, explained out of the 3 different types of school buses that are currently available, the company was of the view that Type D is the safest of all of them. The Type D gives the driver great visibility; it maximizes the floor space with a chassis "so you don't have wasted space from the hood, extending in front of the vehicle."

With a rich history of EV Stars, which are used as shuttles by hospitals, airports and hotels, GreenPower noticed that with the school buses mostly used by passengers from kindergarten to grade 12, "research has shown that in the K to 6 category, the traditional diesel-emitting school buses are incredibly harmful for the development of children's lungs and the research shows that there are higher incidences of lung cancer, respiratory illnesses and a many other related diseases around the lungs." Due to this danger, the company established this is an area that should be ensured in its product catalog.

The BEAST is 40 feet long, which holds the most passengers, has the highest range in its class, and has features such as air ride suspension, which should last 20 to 25 years.

Considering the fuel savings on EV buses today, they have a price advantage over the alternative -- diesel gas or compressed natural gas (CNG) -- over a 10- or 15-year period.

"In our vehicles, we predominantly don't need fluids. You don't need oil changes, you don't need transmission and we have very few moving parts. Our traction motor compared to an internal combustion engine, which has more than 2,000 moving parts, is the reason." Atkinson added, "With our regenerative braking, you use your brakes once and, in some cases, your drivers who are well-trained might only use them 1/2 or 1/3 as much, which reduces the number of times you need to do your brake jobs."

Maintenance of GreenPower EV school buses is far less expensive than fossil-powered vehicles. Eventually, as batteries continue to get cheaper and as the company continues to scale up, the price parity and catalog products will also see a price reduction.

About 10 years ago, companies couldn't build an EV that made economic sense because a kilowatt-hour battery, for example, for commercial vehicles was $2,500. Today, it's $250 to $300, which is more compelling and a better bang for your buck.

GreenPower officially unveiled for the first time in a public forum the BEAST at the ACT Expo (Advanced Clean Transportation) in Santa Monica on August 31.

The company will begin initial deliveries to customers under existing contracts in the coming weeks and anticipates that the pace of these deliveries will increase significantly by the end of the year.

Feedback of the BEAST

"Drivers love it because it's a very modern vehicle in a space where most, if not the majority of, our competitors are still designing products with designs from the 1980s and 1990s. So, they get on our vehicle, and while it still looks like a school bus, it's very modern -- it has an incredible drive because of its great mobile center of gravity," Atkinson revealed. "It's like taking a brand new Tesla S P100D to a leaf driver, saying, 'We'd like you to try out this and this is what you're going to transport our students around.' It is a completely different playing field."

GreenPower's 30-Day Delivery

GreenPower states it can deliver the buses to customers within 30 to 45 days. According to Atkinson, the company believes it's prepared to deliver. "This fall we'll be in a unique position of delivering on select customers that either are in our pipeline or that step up and say they need to start electrifying their fleets and can't find a vendor out there that has school buses available today."

After completing its Nasdaq IPO about a year ago, the company started working on its supply chain to build school buses every month. The solid foundation put in place means the buses will be about 98% done, and the remaining 2% will be just logistics.

The Future

GreenPower is boosting its product enhancement with 2 initiatives: the first is wireless charging with Momentum Dynamics, where the company has a customer deployment at a transit property in Washington.

The company's EVs ride up over the Momentum charging system built into the pavement and get charged wirelessly. As the bus rides over the charging station, a coil located underneath the vehicle's battery pack connects with the coil on the ground and charges the EV batteries with no human involvement.

GreenPower is also involved with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, where it has deployed an autonomous vehicle called the AV Star. "We are deploying it on a test basis right now, but this fall, we plan to roll it out on their regular route at speed, picking up customers -- and no driver. It's the first of its kind in North America at a commercial level where it's truly an autonomous vehicle," Atkinson said.

Images provided by GreenPower Motor Company