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Independent heavy-vehicle dossier

GILLIG Battery Electric Bus Low Floor Plus, 40 ft

686 kWh and a base price of 813,044 dollars — GILLIG is one of the few manufacturers here with a public, contracted figure.

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GILLIG Battery Electric Bus Low Floor Plus, 40 ft — Side profile

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12,192 mm

Length

2

Doors

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Buying decision

The EvCompass verdict

The key arguments drawn from the published data and the EvCompass editorial summary.

That sum comes from a quotation to a Santa Barbara operator off a Washington State contract, so it is real rather than estimated — American transit tenders disclose prices European truck makers never publish. The BorgWarner battery in five- to seven-pack form gives 490 to 686 kWh. GILLIG builds only for the North American market.

Strengths

  • The base price is public and contracted, not estimated.

Weaknesses

  • The base price of USD 813,044 rises to USD 1,440,099 for the version with chargers, so the published amounts do not describe the same purchase.

The full picture

Specifications

Manufacturer-published facts grouped by the decisions they inform, without raw source headings.

Battery and charging

Gross battery
686 kWh
Consumption
143 kWh/100 km
On charging
Depot plug-in as standard, with pantograph rails and inductive charging plates offered as options, and charge port locations available on both curbside and streetside. Traction system is Accelera by Cummins (direct-drive motor, electronic stability control).

Powertrain

Powertrain
Battery electric
Axle configuration
4x2

Body and passengers

Bus type
City
Length
12,192 mm
Floor
Low floor
Doors
2

Market and year

Model year from
2,021
Markets
US
Production status
In production
Vehicle class
M3
Measurement basis
GILLIG does not publish a headline range. At launch the company guided to about 150 miles (240 km) real-world from the then-444 kWh pack at 2.3 kWh/mile; the current 686 kWh pack is roughly 55% larger. Altoona-tested but the FTA report range figure was not obtained.

These are manufacturer-published figures gathered through EvCompass research.

Price and availability

What it costs and whether it is available in Poland

Published price evidence and the Polish availability answer, kept together for a buying decision.

813,044 USD

Confidence: High

USD 813,044 base bus price, 40 ft BEB, quoted to Santa Barbara MTD off the State of Washington DES cooperative contract RFP #2020 06719-01 (board report 15 October 2024). Fully optioned and service-ready delivered price for the same bus was USD 1,440,099 each (8 buses plus ChargePoint Express Plus DC chargers, not-to-exceed USD 13,771,000). Washington State's independent cost estimate put the average base price of a 40 ft BEB across five manufacturers at USD 878,567; SBMTD's own historical benchmark was USD 883,822 - so GILLIG was about 8% under market on base price. Separately, GILLIG's 2021 Utah Transit Authority / Park City award was USD 44.2 million for 44 buses plus 16 plug-in and 4 on-route chargers (~USD 1.0 m per bus all-in). California HVIP base voucher for this bus is USD 120,000.

Source: Santa Barbara MTD Board of Directors report, 15 October 2024

Poland

Not available in Poland

No. GILLIG builds only for the North American transit market (Livermore, California) and has no European homologation.

Charging infrastructure

Recommended chargers

Chargers matched to the vehicle's published power or to a clearly stated duty profile when that figure is missing.

This vehicle does not publish its own DC charging power. The chargers below are matched to a charging profile typical for this class of vehicle (around 150 kW), not to a figure this vehicle publishes.

Browse all chargers

Sources and research

Research notes

The sources and research notes behind the figures, claims and editorial assessment.

Battery is the BorgWarner (ex-Akasol) AKASystem 9 AKM 150 CYC, NMC chemistry, in 5/6/7-pack configurations giving 490 / 588 / 686 kWh - unusual in a market where LFP now dominates. Traction is Accelera by Cummins. Scored 89.5/100 at the FTA Altoona facility, the highest ever recorded for a zero-emission bus, with only 15.2 hours of unscheduled maintenance over 15,000+ test miles against a seven-year all-bus average of 72.3 hours. Largest order to date is King County Metro (Seattle), March 2024: 89 firm with options for up to 306 more over five years, 395 total. Also sold as a 35 ft variant. The Santa Barbara MTD board report is the single most useful public document found in this whole research task for US bus pricing, because it lists the base price, the fully-optioned delivered price and two independent cost estimates side by side.

Data confidence

HIGH

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