As part of its mission to promote the adoption of environmentally friendly solution for buses and bus bodies, Gemilang International Limited (GML), an Asia-leading bus and bus body manufacturer, is expected to deliver 140 units of fully-electric school buses to California, the United States, in 2022.
For almost 30 years, GML, based in Johor, has developed and manufactured bus chassis as well as assembled buses. Its latest major projects include the Iskandar Malaysia Bus Rapid Transit (IMBRT), Sarawak’s first electric city bus for the Kuching Metro, and a Sabah government electric bus pilot project for public transportation.
For the past 13 years, GML has been delivering aluminium buses to Go KL, Rapid KL, Rapid Penang, and MRT feeder buses.
The Hong Kong-listed firm (Stock Code: 6163.HK) stated that it has been providing electric buses to the United States since 2016, when the market was still dominated by fossil fuel vehicles.
“In fact, GML has been supplying bus bodies for various EV makers such as BYD and CRRC to several markets including Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia since 2015, and we expect more countries to catch up with the transition to EV as an increasing number of climate change mitigation commitments have been announced by governments around the world,” said GML Chairman and CEO Pang Chong Yong.
He further said that the purchase of 120 12m-long school buses and 20 7.5m-long school buses was significant not only because it was a first for the US market, but also because it was the greatest amount of EV buses the company had ever received from a single order.
Pang stated that the EV school bus market in the United States is massive, with an exponential growth rate. This is due to the recently announced Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act), which committed $2.5 billion (about RM10.5 billion) to purchase electric school buses for districts across the United States.
“With the new plan to convert all 500,000 US school buses to zero emission vehicles, we are confident to capture more market share with our 3 decades of industry experience as well as our main competitive advantage – aluminium lightweight superstructure,” he added.
GML is committed to producing ecologically friendly buses and bus bodies, and has been employing aluminium body solutions for more than 20 years.
“The lightweight, corrosion-free technology originates from Switzerland and has been proven by our customers from more than 15 markets around the world. Usually, our buses last longer and are deemed to be safer than steel-bodied counterparts, and I am pleased that this has helped us to expand our footprint in the US market,” concluded Pang.
, an Asia-leading bus and bus body manufacturer, is expected to deliver 140 units of fully-electric school buses to California, the United States, in 2022.){kind=link}