Blue Bird gets $80 million to convert old plant to make electric buses

Blue Bird, the iconic Georgia bus-maker, is receiving $80 million from the federal government as part of a $1.7 billion effort to convert shuttered auto factories into manufacturing and assembly plants making electric vehicles or their parts.

The Domestic Auto Manufacturing Conversion Grants program plan is aimed at spurring U.S. production of vehicles that are fueled by electricity, hydrogen or a hybrid that is only partly dependent on the fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.

The grants, announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Energy , will funnel money to 11 mostly-closed facilities in eight states. Blue Bird is the only recipient in Georgia.

Rather than build new factories, officials are hoping to make use of infrastructure that already exists, helping to rejuvenate areas that have suffered from factory closures, said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in a statement. “There is nothing harder to a manufacturing community than to lose jobs to foreign competition and a changing industry.”

Fort Valley, the site of Blue Bird’s factory, is “ a designated disadvantaged community ,” the DOE said.

Early in the Biden Administration, officials promised that 40% of the benefits of federal investments flow to “disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution,” according to the Initiative for Energy Justice , which tracks those efforts.

Calls and email messages to the company were not returned Thursday.

The injection of money is expected to create 428 manufacturing jobs and 250 construction jobs in Fort Valley, according to a statement from Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock.

The money was appropriated by Congress as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in 2022.

“As a father of two young children, I believe the health of our families is tied to the health of our environment,” Warnock said. “This is a ride to the future, and this investment demonstrates the power of bipartisan cooperation to deliver tangible results for our communities.”

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

The government says the money will be used to convert a factory that previously made diesel-powered motor homes to a facility making zero-emission electric school buses. Blue Bird will use some of the money for “education and training” of current workers, as well as interested students at area high schools, the Department of Energy said .

“With this investment, ( Blue Bird ) will be able to retain and expand its existing workforce of nearly 2,000 employees, which includes union representation by the United Steelworkers,” according to a DOE statement. “In addition, Blue Bird projects adding more than 400 new, high-paying, and highly skilled jobs.”

Blue Bird workers voted to join the Steelworkers union last year. Workers overwhelmingly approved their first union contract with the company in May, a bargain that boosted retirement savings and provided profit-sharing for workers.

The DOE helps assure Blue Bird’s future, said Daniel Flippo, director the steelworkers union district that includes Georgia. “This funding is good news for everyone involved – it means hundreds more good jobs in emerging clean-energy technologies.”

The department praised Blue Bird as “a technology leader and innovator of school buses.”

Founded in 1927, Blue Bird made its first zero-emission, electric school bus in 1994, although it didn’t make the EV buses a full-scale line of business until 2018. Blue Bird has sold more than 2,000 electric buses, according to the DOE.

Among other recipients are Fiat Chrysler, which will get nearly $335 million to convert a shuttered site in Illinois, Harley-Davidson, which will receive $89 million for expansion of a Pennsylvania factory and Volvo Group, which will receive $208 million to reconfigure factories making heavy-duty trucks.

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