GreenPower Motor Company Incorporated (“GreenPower”) was founded in 2007. GreenPower’s base of operations is in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. However, their main manufacturing location is in Porterville, California. In 2016, GreenPower acquired a 9.3-acre plot of land to build a 150,000 square foot manufacturing facility. The plans for the Porterville plant is to eventually be developed to include a two-story office building and a 144,000 square foot U-shaped manufacturing facility. The Porterville plant began vehicle production in late 2017.

GreenPower only manufactures all-electric zero-emission buses on their own purpose-built chassis. This OEM platform allows GreenPower to meet the specifications of various operators while providing standard parts for ease of maintenance and accessibility for warranty requirements.

GreenPower allegedly uses a custom battery management system (BMS) and proprietary Flex Power system for the drive motor. However, GreenPower does not manufacture these components in house. They have partnered with well known global parts suppliers to produce some of these components. GreenPower integrates global suppliers for key components, such as Siemens or TM4 for the drive motors, Knorr for the brakes, ZF for the axles and Parker for the dash and control systems.

GreenPower provides a full-suite of high and low-floor vehicles, including transit buses, school buses, shuttles, and a double decker bus. We will only feature their school bus offerings, but you can visit their products page to learn more about their other vehicles.

Both the Synapse 72 and the BEAST type D school buses were designed and built in house by GreenPower. While most school buses are built in the traditional body on frame construction because the frame and motor are generally bought from a supplier like Ford or Frieghtliner. Greenpower uses a truss chassis and monocoque body usually seen in purpose-built race cars and off-road vehicles.

GreenPower started development of their first all-electric class D school bus, the Synapse 72 in 201_. The 72 in the name seems to come from seating capacity as GreenPower claims a 72-passenger capacity. The Synapse shuttle bus built on the same chassis only has a 48-person seating capacity probably due to plusher seats.

In April of 2020, GreenPower introduced their newest all-electric class D school bus, the BEAST (Battery Electric Automotive School Transporation). The design of the BEAST is very similar to the Synapse 72 but the length has been increased by 3.5 feet to total 40 feet. The increased length allows for up to 90 passengers at maximum capacity.

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*NYC limits the width of school buses to 98 inches pursuant to 34 R.C.N.Y. § 4-15 (b)(1)

GREENPOWER DELIVERS TWO ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSES TO RIALTO SCHOOL DISTRICT