Lightning eMotors and Collins Bus expand electric school bus cooperation offering also GM and Ford chassis platforms.

Electric powertrains provider Lightning eMotors and school bus manufacturer Collins Bus announce the expansion of their zero-emission Type A school bus offering to include both GM and Ford chassis platforms.

Expansion of the Lightning eMotors-Collins Bus strategic partnership, first announced last year, comes just two months after the Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announced $5 billion in guaranteed funding for school districts and eligible school bus operators and contractors to begin replacing the nation’s fleet of school buses with clean, American-made, zero-emission buses.

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

Lightning eMotors and Collins Bus offer the preferred platform GM 4500

“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.”

“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 Corporation. “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.”