Curtis Tate Published

GreenPower Halts Electric School Bus Production, Citing Trump Tariffs

A small yellow school bus sits in front of an open garage bay with a white banner hanging over it.
GreenPower's NanoBeast at the company's plant in South Charleston.
Curtis Tate / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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A South Charleston electric school bus manufacturer says it’s paused manufacturing and laid off workers.

In a statement Friday, GreenPower Motor says it made the “difficult decision” due to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

GreenPower delivered its first electric school buses in late 2023, powered by a 2021 infrastructure law enacted by Congress and signed by then-President Joe Biden.

Millions of dollars in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants were supposed to bring dozens more buses to school districts in West Virginia.

As of early May, the company had delivered just 22 to the state.

GreenPower said the Trump administration’s trade policies have challenged bus manufacturers, no matter what fuels them.

The company says it has no ability under its contracts with school districts to pass on the higher cost of building buses because of the tariffs.