PETALING JAYA: Gemilang International Ltd (GML), an Asia-leading bus and bus body manufacturer, is expected to deliver 140 units of fully-electric school buses to California in the United States this year.

       This is in line with the company’s mission to promote the adoption of environmentally-friendly solutions for buses and bus bodies.

       The Hong Kong-listed company said it has been supplying electric vehicle (EV) buses to the US since 2016 when the market was still predominantly using fossil fuel-powered vehicles.

       “In fact, GML has 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,” said chairman and CEO Pang Chong Yong in a statement.

       He added that the order of 120 units of 12m-length 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 has ever received.

       Pang highlighted that the EV school bus market in the US is enormous with exponential growth aspect.

       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$2.5bil (RM10.5bil) to buy electric school buses for districts in 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 added.

       GML is focused on building environmentally-friendly buses and bus bodies, and have been using aluminium body solutions for about 20 years.

       “The lightweight, corrosion-free technology originates from Switzerland and has been proven by our customers from about 15 markets around the world.

       “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,” Pang said.

       Based in Johor, GML has designed and manufactured bus bodies and assembled buses for over 30 years.