By Matthew Young
For HDMedia
It has been nearly a year since the GreenPower Motor Co. announced layoffs and a pause in production at its South Charleston manufacturing facility. However, despite numerous setbacks, Chairman and CEO Fraser Atkinson said the company remains committed to a long-term partnership with the Mountain State.
“We are absolutely steadfast in our intention to produce all-electric school buses — both for the state and for customers outside of the state — out of [the South Charleston] facility,” Atkinson said.
News of last year’s layoffs came on May 23, when affected employees were notified via email. A subsequent statement from GreenPower cited the Trump administration’s tariff policies as the reason for both the layoffs and the pause in production, adding that the increased costs associated with the tariffs “impacts all school bus manufacturers whether they are producing electric, diesel, propane, or gas.”
“I hope this is not a death penalty to the project,” South Charleston Mayor Frank Mullens said at the time, although noting his belief the “project was risky from the start.”
The state initially ordered 41 all-electric, zero-emission school buses from GreenPower at a total cost of $15 million. Kanawha County Schools was scheduled to receive 21 of those buses, but had only taken possession of four as of last May. Those four remain the only units in the KCS garage, and none are currently in use.
History
Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada — with administrative offices located in Rancho Cucamonga, California — the GreenPower Motor Company was founded in 2010 and produced its first all-electric school bus in 2014.
The company’s South Charleston facility was originally announced on Jan. 12, 2022, at a media conference outside the state Capitol. GreenPower President Brendan Riley was in attendance for the announcement, as was West Virginia’s former Secretary of Economic Development Mitch Carmichael, and leadership from both the state Senate and House of Delegates. Also present was Mullens, who referred to the coming facility as a “win-win for everybody.”
“You can already kind of feel the buzz even though it was just announced this morning,” Mullens said on that day. “It’s one of those trendy businesses that has a great future.”
The GreenPower announcement brought with it the promise of some 900 high-paying, entry-level jobs, with many being filled by workers trained at BridgeValley Community and Technical College. The 80,000-square-foot Motor City Industrial Building was selected for the facility, with a target date of late-May 2022 for GreenPower to take possession of the property.
Negotiations over the property took longer than anticipated, pushing the project back by several months. A lease-purchase arrangement which saw GreenPower take possession on Aug. 1, 2022, would ultimately be agreed upon with the South Charleston Development Authority.
Property agreement
What was in name a lease-purchase agreement, was in application an interest-free mortgage loan that saw the State of West Virginia taking on the role of banker. Beginning on May 1, 2023, GreenPower contracted to make payments in the amount of $50,000 per month for 183 consecutive months to the West Virginia Division of Economic Development, with 100% of those payments being applied to the property’s purchase.
The agreement also included two separate triggers with the potential to reduce the total purchase price by as much as $1.8 million should GreenPower reach an employment threshold of 300 on-site workers. The state would prevent any external creditor from placing a lien or hold against the property in the event of a GreenPower default, and repossess possession of the property from GreenPower should that default occur against the Division of Economic Development.
Serving as chairman of the South Charleston Development Authority, Mullens signed the lease on behalf of the state. As CEO, Atkinson signed on behalf of GreenPower.
Radio silence
Over the past 10 days, the Gazette-Mail attempted to contact numerous representatives of GreenPower to inquire as to the status of production at the South Charleston facility. Seven phone calls were placed, with three voice messages left and four phone numbers discovered to be disconnected. Five emails also went unanswered.
On Tuesday, officials with the City of South Charleston told the Gazette-Mail they have had very little communication with GreenPower, and none within the past 12 months.
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