Bus factory latest victim of slump of green vehicles

In an era when clean public transportation has seemingly huge support, how can the makers of low-emission buses fail?

The latest casualty is a Southern California factory where environmentally friendly buses were made. It's being shut down by its Wisconsin-based owners.

REV Group — which makes everything from RVs to fire trucks — decided in January to exit the mass transit business, announcing the closure of its ENC bus business and its plant in Jurupa Valley. State documents show 425 jobs will be lost after the business winds down after completing outstanding orders.

Now, you probably don't know ENC, but you've likely ridden in one of their products. Their legacy product was the ubiquitous airport shuttle. The manufacturer then evolved into manufacturing mass-transit buses.

L.A. Metro runs 295 of ENC's natural gas-fueled vehicles. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has 30 electrichybrid minibuses. And just last year, Foothill Transit — serving riders around Pomona — ordered 19 electric ENC buses.

The company blames a slew of challenges for the factory shuttering.

“Delays in the supply of critical components and the build out of infrastructure to support EV adoption, as well as the financial health of key suppliers, has created a competitive bidding environment for diesel and CNG buses that has made it difficult for ENC to compete profitably versus peers of greater scale,” REV CEO Mark Skonieczny said in a statement. “The decision to wind down operations was not made lightly; however, based on the options available to us, we believe this is the best path forward for our business.”

Rough road

Clean-running buses ride along with plenty of government cash.

There were 6,147 electric buses in use nationwide in September 2023, up 85% in two years, according to CalStart. And California has 1,946 — nearly one-third of the national fleet.

Yet the road to business success seems rough.

Each transit district requires distinct specifications for what they buy, and that is no easy chore.

Like all vehicle makers, supply chain disruptions have become routine. And for green-vehicle makers, the parts shortage is especially problematic.

Also, like most businesses, the costs of doing business has soared — a big problem in an industry where companies bid for contracts that take years to execute.