Electric van purchase program goes live in California
Throughout California, communities can now purchase battery-electric shuttle buses and vans from Lightning Systems on a new cooperative purchasing contract through the California Association for Coordinated Transportation.
The CALACT scheme provides city and county governments, transportation agencies, as well as nonprofits, with easy conditions to order all-electric Class 3 to 5 passenger buses. Vehicles eligible include the Ford Transit 350HD Passenger Van and Ford E-450 Shuttle Bus, both of which Lightning Systems converts to EVs.
CALACT is buyers community or purchase co-op for nearly 200 transit agencies in California, with Morongo Basin Transit Authority as the lead agency. The organisation performs research and audits manufacturers onsite for production and tests drivability and compliance with emission rules.
“The contract provides CALACT member organisations in California the tools they need to confidently purchase competitively bid electric passenger buses to meet their sustainability goals and requirements under the state’s Innovative Clean Transportation (ICT) Regulation,” said Terry Scholl, Lightning Systems” business development manager for Southern California.
The co-op added, it provided oversight for the purchase of more than 800 buses annually and were the largest co-op of its kind in the United States.
Nonprofits or government agencies can use the new agreement to purchase electric buses and e-vans once they join CALACT. All sales are made through one of several dealers that offer vehicles equipped with Lightning Systems” electric powertrains.
“The Lightning Systems Electric Passenger Van, one of our most popular models, is the only Class 3 bus available on the contract,” said Julie Johnson, the company’s business development manager. “Under the contract, we also offer an all-electric E-450 shuttle bus,” she added, with both ZEB models being ADA-compliant.
All vehicles under the contract are eligible for funding via the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP).
The agency recently included BYD in a similar effort of combining buying power. The contract serves to aid transit agencies to meet zero-emission vehicle mandates as the California Air Resources Board requires all new bus purchases to be zero-emission by 2029 with the goal of complete fleet transition by 2040.
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