Air board to hand city $9.5M
Ceremonial check part of Greenpower groundbreaking
As part of today’s historic groundbreaking for an electric-powered bus manufacturing plant, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will hand Mayor Milt Stowe a check for $9.5 million to purchase the first buses to be produced by Greenpower Motor Company.
The $9.5 million will bring 10 zero-emission battery-electric buses and supportive infrastructure to serve disadvantaged communities in the region, stated the air board in a press release Thursday. In addition to the buses, the project will include installation of charging stations and solar panels at the city corporation yard and at the city’s Transit Station on Oak Avenue.
The money is coming from the California Climate Investments (CCI), the state’s climate change-fighting, cap-and-trade program.
The presentation of the ceremonial giant check will be part of the 11 a.m. groundbreaking at 1700 Hope Ave. near the Porterville Airport.
Greenpower announced more than a year ago it was looking to bring its bus manufacturing plant to Porterville. The Canadian-based company has been building buses in China and doing some assembly work in Chino, but intends to eventually do all the manufacturing and assembling here in Porterville.
Greenpower Chairman Fraser Atkinson said operations in Chino are being shut down and moved to Porterville. The company has already leased a hangar from the Tule River Economic Development Corporation and is doing some assembly work there. Plans are to do final assembly of buses in the hangar until the first phase of the plant is completed. That plant will be constructed in three phases, basically from end to start, with the first phase being the final assembly area.
Today’s event will also include a lunch and rides on some of Greenpower’s electric buses, including its signature double-decker bus that can accommodate 100 passengers.
The grant funds will pay to transform the city’s entire transit fleet from compressed natural gas power to electric power as a test for the state to see how viable electric transit buses can be.
“Thanks to proceeds from the cap-and-trade program, California is on a roll to put zero-emission cars, trucks and buses in the communities that need them the most,” said CARB Chair Mary Nichols. “And the City of Porterville is a dynamic leader in the Central Valley, taking the first step to a fully zero-emission transit fleet over the next decade.”
“This exciting project in Porterville delivers fully on the promise of California’s efforts to fight climate change,” said CARB board member Alex Sherriffs, M.D., who also serves on the board of the San Joaquin Valley Air Quality Management District. “It clears the air with zero-emission buses in a community that faces serious air quality issues. It supports the deployment of breakthrough clean technology that cuts carbon pollution. And it provides employment — and perhaps most importantly — on-site job training for the young people in this and other San Joaquin Valley communities who have all too often been left out of the clean tech boom in California.”
The plant will employ approximately 65 people to begin with, then expand. Also, city officials said two of the suppliers for the plant, including the battery manufacture, have been to town looking for sites to set up operations closer to Greenpower’s.
Manufactured by Greenpower Motor Company and expected to arrive by early 2018, the 10 new Greenpower EV350 40-foot zero-emission allelectric transit buses and the charging infrastructure will service all nine of the Porterville Transit routes which include East Porterville, Strathmore and the Tule River Indian Reservation, all heavily affected by air pollution. Southern California Edison will support the installation of infrastructure and provide special rates for high-voltage bus charging.
“We are excited to be working with the City of Porterville on a systemwide deployment of our all-electric transit buses and charging infrastructure,” said Atkinson. “The Porterville project will serve as a model for other operators in the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and across North America who are seeking to deploy not just a zero-emission vehicle, but a zero-emission solution.”
The $9.5 million award to the City of Porterville was one of only nine awards from the highly competitive Zero-emission Truck and Bus Pilot Project solicitation. In addition to the grant amount, the project partners — Greenpower, San Joaquin Valley Air Quality Management District, and Southern California Edison — will contribute more than $7 million in a combination of cash and in-kind matching funds.
The award is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program 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 cap-and-trade program also creates a financial incentive for industries to invest in clean technologies and develop innovative ways to reduce pollution.