By Michael Elkins
Canadian-based commercial vehicle manufacturer and leading manufacturer of all-electric medium and heavy-duty vehicles, Lion Electric Corp (NYSE:LEV) today congratulated the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the announcement of the first round of awards for its highly successful Clean School Bus Program.
"It is fantastic to see these funds being awarded and we are excited to see the massive interest in clean school buses across all 50 states. Lion would like to congratulate the EPA along with the awardees, who will soon benefit from the adoption of zero-emission school buses," said Marc Bedard, CEO-Founder of Lion Electric. "Lion saw the opportunity for all-electric school buses in the market over a decade ago when we began developing our technology and started the zero-emission school bus revolution, and today we are seeing the results in large-scale adoption, for the benefit of the health of our children, our communities and the environment."
The widespread adoption of all-electric school buses has become self-evident as 90% of the awarded applications are going to electric school buses. This will result in the deployment of thousands of all-electric buses throughout the U.S.
Thanks to the resounding interest in this year's initial tranche of $500 million, with around 2,000 applications amounting to nearly $4 billion, for a total of over 12,000 buses, the EPA increased the amount of funding awards that were announced to $965 million. Furthermore, an additional $1 billion in funding will be available for fiscal year 2023.
Those selected for the initial round of EPA funding are required to receive new buses, install eligible charging infrastructure, replace old buses, and submit close out forms by October 2024.
Shares of LEV are up 2.21% in mid-day trading on Wednesday.