Collins Bus, Lightning eMotors to expand Type A electric school bus offering

Lightning eMotors, a Colorado-based provider of medium-duty and specialty commercial electric vehicles for fleets, and Collins Bus Corp., an manufacturer of Type A School Buses and a subsidiary of REV Group Inc., have expanded its zero-emission Type A school bus offering to include GM and Ford chassis platforms.

The Lightning eMotors-Collins Bus strategic partnership was first announced last year.

The Lightning eMotors and Collins Bus strategic partnership, first announced last year, has been extended. (Photo: Lightning eMotors)

“We’re excited to expand our existing partnership with Collins to include what is widely considered to be the preferred platform for the Type A school bus, the GM 4500,” Lightning eMotors CEO Tim Reeser said. “By providing both GM and Ford class 4 options for Collins Bus, we are now able to mitigate the chassis constraints currently being experienced in the marketplace and accelerate delivery of zero emission vehicles to the districts that so desperately need them.”

In addition to EPA funding and state-level initiatives, the company said environmental and health benefits of reduced tailpipe emissions and current economic realities make electric school buses an even more appealing option.

“We have been extremely happy with how our customer demos have gone, and how our partnership with Tim and the Lightning team is evolving,” said Todd Gibson, director of sales, Collins Bus Corp. “We look forward to deploying dozens more Lightning-powered zero-emission Collins Type A buses in the coming months and are available to work with school districts and school bus operators nationally to understand and apply for the program.”

Both chassis versions of the Type A school bus come with 125 kWh of batteries, approximately 130 miles of range, and ac level 2 at up to 13.2 kW and dc fast charge at up to 80 kW.

Hundreds of Lightning vehicles are reportedly on the road today and have accumulated over 2 million miles.