On Thursday, April 14, 2022, Antoine Thompson of Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition (GWRCCC) traveled to middle Georgia and toured the Blue Bird Corporation manufacturing facility along with Macon County Commissioner Carl Oliver, The City of Fort Valley Mayor Jeffery Lundy, Council Member of the City of Oglethorpe Jill Harrison and Marsha Ade Gosier of the Environmental Defense Action Fund.

Blue Bird Corporation leaders, Sales Support & Order Control Manager Greg Thompson, Director of Electric Vehicle Operations Andy Moore and Executive Director of North American Sales Tim Gordon, gave the team a full tour of the facility and walked them through how an electric bus is produced.

An electric school bus chassis can be produced in five hours, and the bus frame is painted in only four minutes.
“We had a great roundtable lunch discussion on the campus of The Fort Valley State University (FVSU) where we discussed the future of alternative fuels, electric vehicles, farming, eco-friendly strategies for rural communities and more,” Thompson said.
The Environmental Defense Action Fund sponsored lunch for the day, and Ade Gosier gave the group a tour of the FVSU/Georgia Power solar panel farm right outside of town.
GWRCCC is also a partner in the Mid-Atlantic Electric School Bus Experience Project (MEEP).