Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, says The Lion Electric Co. has delivered 10 all-electric LionC school buses to the Twin Rivers Unified School District in Sacramento, Calif.
With these new buses, Twin Rivers is now operating the largest zero-emission school bus fleet in North America, with 40 all-electric school buses.
“Twin Rivers is a leader in zero-emission school buses, and the numbers speak for themselves – this delivery represents a deeply impressive accomplishment for the school district and zero-emission transportation as a whole, and demonstrates Twin Rivers’ dedication to the health of the local community,” says Marc Bedard, founder and CEO of Lion. “This milestone delivery serves as an example that electrification of school transportation is not coming tomorrow, it is here now, meeting and exceeding the needs of operators.”
The purchase of 10 LionC all-electric buses have been made possible by California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities.
The electric buses were funded in large part by the aforementioned cap-and-trade dollars, with additional funding from the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and California’s Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program. The all-electric buses each have a range of 125 miles. The Sac Metro Air District, California Air Resources Board and the Twin Rivers School District have collaborated on funding 63 zero-emission school buses in the region to date, with an additional 90 pending delivery in 2021. To support these buses, over $4.5 million has been funded to support the charging infrastructure.
Twin Rivers is a pioneer in zero-emission school buses and it has been among the first fleets in the U.S. to put all-electric buses into service in 2016 when it received its first buses from Lion. Lion has worked closely with the district to train staff in vehicle operation and maintenance, both on-site at its transit yard and at its nearby Sacramento Experience Center where the vehicles are also serviced. The district has since consistently added more electric buses to its fleet and was among the school districts to receive electric buses from the California Energy Commission’s first School Bus Replacement Program.
All of Lion’s vehicles are purpose-built for electric propulsion from the ground up and are manufactured at Lion’s North American facility, which has a current capacity to produce 2,500 electric vehicles per year. Over the last decade, Lion has delivered over 300 all-electric school buses in North America with over 6 million miles driven since 2016. Lion’s vehicles are distributed and serviced through the company’s network of Experience Centers, including two locations in California along with facilities in New York, Washington, Florida and Arizona.
