By Faithlyn Graham, Charleston Gazette-Mail
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — GreenPower Motor Company, the electric bus manufacturer that promised both jobs at its South Charleston plant and clean-energy-powered school buses for districts across the state, has laid off employees and announced a pause on production.
GreenPower has a $15 million order to supply 41 buses to West Virginia school districts, including schools in Kanawha and Cabell counties.
News of the layoffs was first shared Friday during an online BridgeValley Community and Technical College Board of Governors meeting. Ron Rogillio, BridgeValley board member and professor of manufacturing technology, said 17 of his students who worked at GreenPower received a layoff email during his class, also on Friday.
In a statement provided by GreenPower on Tuesday, the company said it would “pause manufacturing and layoff (sic) a portion of (GreenPower’s) workforce at its manufacturing facility in South Charleston.”
