KUALA LUMPUR: Johor-based bus and bus body manufacturer Gemilang International Ltd (GML) is expected to deliver 140 units of fully-electric school buses to California, United States (US) in 2022.
Chairman and chief executive officer Pang Chong Yong said GML had been supplying bus bodies for various EV makers such as BYD and CRRC to several markets including Malaysia, Singapore and Australia since 2015.
"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 globe," he said in a statement.
Pang said the order of 120 units of 12 meter (m) length school buses and 20 units of 7.5m-length school buses was remarkable not just because it was a breakthrough for the US market, but it was also the largest quantity from a single order of EV buses that the company had ever received.
He highlighted that the EV school bus market in the US was enormous with exponential growth.
"This is a result of the recently-announced Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) which was signed into law by US President Joe Biden, committing US$2.5 billion (RM10.5 billion) to buy electric school buses for districts around the US.
"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 three decades of industry experience as well as our main competitive advantage – aluminium lightweight superstructure," he said.
GML has designed and manufactured bus bodies, and assembled buses for over 30 years.
Its notable projects recently included the Iskandar Malaysia Bus Rapid Transit (IMBRT), Sarawak's first electric city bus for Kuching Metro, and an electric bus pilot project by the Sabah government for public transport.
GML has also been supplying aluminium buses for Go KL, Rapid KL, Rapid Penang and MRT feeder buses for the last 13 years.
Pang said GML focused on building environmentally-friendly bus and bus bodies, and had been using 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," he added.