Tuesday, August 10th 2021, 3:18 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, August 10th 2021, 3:23 PM EDT
By Wes Mills, Content Manager
ELKHART – Elkhart-based Forest River Inc. is partnering with a Colorado electric vehicle company to manufacture zero-emission shuttle buses in a deal valued as high as $850 million. Forest River, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) will produce the interior and shell of the shuttles, while Lightning eMotors (NYSE: ZEV) will manufacture the powertrain systems.
Final assembly will take place at a Forest River factory in Goshen. The partnership calls for up to 7,500 Class 4 and Class 5 buses across the U.S. and Canada over the next four years.
“We’ll be providing our customers with a factory-installed electric powertrain that has proven technology relied upon by major fleets, at a price point no one else has been able to achieve,” said Forest River Bus Division President David Wright. ”We believe this will be a game changer for shuttle-bus operators.”
The buses will have between 12 and 33 passenger seats and bus lengths of 20 to 34 feet.
Forest River says manufacturing of the EV shuttles has already begun. The company expects to deliver several dozen of the buses to its dealers by years’ end.
