Blue Bird selected to receive $80M federal grant to expand EV manufacturing

Blue Bird Corporation has been selected to receive an $80M grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand the company’s electric vehicle manufacturing capabilities and related workforce development efforts. The award selection is subject to final contract and funding negotiations between the DOE and Blue Bird, which could take up to 120 days to conclude. The DOE funding is part of the U.S. administration’s nearly $2B investment to convert long-standing automotive facilities to manufacturing electric vehicles and components, retain and expand good-paying manufacturing jobs, and bolster domestic supply chains. The $80M grant to Blue Bird is part of the Domestic Automotive Manufacturing Conversion Grants program administered by the DOE’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains. The grant represents 50 percent of the total $160 million investment required to complete the conversion project. Blue Bird is one of 11 selectees. The financial award will help Blue Bird convert a prior manufacturing site for diesel-powered motorhomes in Fort Valley, Ga., into an approximately 600,000 square foot, state-of-the-art electric vehicle manufacturing facility. Blue Bird started manufacturing high-end, Wanderlodge-branded motorhomes at the site in 1963 based on its large, Type-D school bus designs. The company ceased operations at the Wanderlodge site in 2019. The conversion will assist Blue Bird in increasing the production of Type-D electric school buses to meet the rising demand for clean student transportation nationwide. In addition, the converted facility will add more than 400 new, good-paying manufacturing jobs.