With nearly a half millions school buses today, Blink is working with school districts around the nation to support the drive towards electric school bus fleets
Miami Beach, FL (July 27, 2021) – Blink Charging Co. (Nasdaq: BLNK, BLNKW) (“Blink” or the “Company”), a leading owner, operator, and provider of electric vehicle (“EV”) charging equipment and services, announced today the continued deployment of Blink EV chargers for electric school bus fleets. Blink has already sold or deployed nearly 400 Level 2 chargers in 14 states at educational facilities. With the recent passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the Biden administration committed $5 billion to the production of environmentally cleaner school buses. Half of these funds have been earmarked specifically for electric school buses. “At a time when fuel diesel prices are at an all-time high and we are seeing a global shift towards electric vehicles, it only makes sense, both economically and environmentally, that our nations school bus fleets follow suit,” stated Michael Farkas founder and CEO at Blink. “The move toward increasing the number of electric school buses would significantly impact the environment for the better and provide relief to districts and fleets during a time of economic uncertainty. We are pleased to see the Biden administration taking such bold action on cleaner transportation for schools with the passing of the IIJA that will get more electric school buses on the roads.” Additionally, the EPA will also award school districts $500 million through their Clean School Bus (CBS) rebates. This increase in funding will naturally lead to a greater demand for electric vehicle charging equipment to power their buses. Under IIJA, electric school bus chargers are an eligible expense. This is in addition to the $7.5 billion that the IIJA set aside for electric vehicle infrastructure along U.S. interstates. Time is of the essence for communities to access the EPA funds as the application window has already opened for the 2022 CSB rebates. Applications will be reviewed starting in September 2022. Of the 480,000 school buses currently in operation in the United States, only 1,800 are electric buses, creating a great demand and opportunity for school bus fleets to move towards electric. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), school buses collectively travel over three billion miles yearly, transporting more than 25 million American children daily. “There is no doubt to the environmental and economic benefits in moving towards an all-electric school bus fleet. We are seeing much growth across the country in electric bus adoption as districts and fleet operators see results in reduced maintenance costs, improve rider comfort and limiting overall environmental footprints,” said John Hipchen, Executive Director, Electric School Bus Coalition. Blink will be holding an informative webinar today with Southern California Edison, the Electric School Bus Coalition, and Fontana Unified School District to discuss the process and potential rebates available for school districts looking to electrify their fleets. For information on the webinar, click here.
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About Blink Charging Blink Charging Co. (Nasdaq: BLNK, BLNKW), a leader in electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment, has deployed over 48,000 charging ports across 19 countries, many of which are networked EV charging stations, enabling EV drivers to easily charge at any of Blink’s charging locations worldwide. Blink’s principal line of products and services include the Blink EV charging network (“Blink Network”), EV charging equipment, EV charging services, and the products and services of recent acquisitions, including SemaConnect, Blue Corner and BlueLA. The Blink Network uses proprietary, cloud-based software that operates, maintains, and tracks the EV charging stations connected to the network and the associated charging data. With global EV purchases forecasted to rise to 10 million vehicles by 2025 from approximately 2 million in 2019, Blink has established key strategic partnerships for rolling out adoption across numerous location types, including parking facilities, multifamily residences and condos, workplace locations, health care/medical facilities, schools and universities, airports, auto dealers, hotels, mixed-use municipal locations, parks and recreation areas, religious institutions, restaurants, retailers, stadiums, supermarkets, and transportation hubs. For more information, please visit https://blinkcharging.com/. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements, and terms such as “anticipate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “will,” “should” or other comparable terms, involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Blink Charging and members of its management, as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, including those described in Blink Charging’s periodic reports filed with the SEC, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Except as required by federal securities law, Blink Charging undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed conditions.