City of Aspen builds Colorado’s sustainability with zero-emission buses from New Flyer

St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA – December 4, 2019: (TSX: NFI) New Flyer of America Inc. (“New Flyer”), a subsidiary of NFI Group Inc. (“NFI”), one of the world’s leading independent global bus manufacturers, announced yesterday that the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (“RFTA”) has placed a new order for eight forty-foot, battery-electric Xcelsior CHARGE™ heavy-duty transit buses.

RFTA celebrated the launch of its first zero-emission bus in Aspen, Colorado; unveiled during a ribbon-cutting ceremony alongside RFTA CEO Dan Blankenship and City of Aspen Transportation Director John Krueger, along with Pitkin County Commissioner and RFTA Board member George Newman, and Aspen City Council and RFTA Board member Ann Mullins.

The order, which includes the zero-emission buses as well as four ABB 150 kWh depot chargers purchased from New Flyer Infrastructure Solutions™, supports RFTA and the City of Aspen’s Battery Electric Bus Pilot program, made possible by grants and local funding. The project will operate using Colorado’s clean-energy grid, which draws energy from solar power and was ranked 11^th for solar energy generation in 2016[1], the same year Colorado produced 925.8 MW of solar energy and invested more than $510 million to expand solar energy.

“New Flyer commends RFTA on its push toward environmental sustainability, building on its zero-emission journey with Xcelsior CHARGE battery-electric buses,” said Chris Stoddart, President, New Flyer. “With over 50 years of experience manufacturing zero-emission buses, New Flyer is proud to lead zero-emission mobility with the latest buses, technology, and infrastructure that together, help build sustainable public transit across America. Congratulations to the community of Aspen!”

“They’re quiet, they’re clean, they’re the new future. This is a huge shift in beginning to change in terms of how we look at dealing with our carbon footprint and how we start to address climate change,” said Pitkin County Commissioner George Newman.

RFTA is the regional transportation authority providing bus service to the Colorado communities of Aspen, Snowmass Village, Pitkin County, Basalt, and portions of Eagle County, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, and New Castle. It is the second largest transit system in Colorado and the largest rural transit system in the U.S., providing over 5.1 million passenger trips per year. It has been named Mass Transit Magazine’s Best Mass Transit System of North America, Best Large Transit Agency of the Year by the Colorado Association of Transit Agencies, received the Federal Transit Administrator’s Outstanding Public Service Award and SHIFT Sustainability Award, and also received the White House Champions of Change Transportation Innovator Award.

Since 2003, NFI has  delivered over 55 vehicles to RFTA. New Flyer has more electric buses on the road in America than any other manufacturer, and in 2018, became the first bus manufacturer in the world to sign on to the Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities. It also became the first licensee outside the Volvo Group to join OppCharge in North America, signed CALSTART’s Global Commercial Drive to Zero to support fast-tracking adoption of clean trucks and buses, and also signed the Transportation Electrification Accord focused on driving an equitable and prosperous future for electrified transportation.

About NFI

With 9,000 team members operating from more than 50 facilities across ten countries, NFI is a leading independent global bus manufacturer providing a comprehensive suite of mass transportation solutions under brands: New Flyer^® (heavy-duty transit buses), Alexander Dennis Limited (single and double-deck buses), Plaxton (motor coaches), MCI^® (motor coaches), ARBOC^® (low-floor cutaway and medium-duty buses), and NFI Parts™. NFI buses and motor coaches incorporate the widest range of drive systems available including: clean diesel, natural gas, diesel-electric hybrid, and zero-emission electric (trolley, battery, and fuel cell).  In total, NFI now supports over 105,000 buses and coaches currently in service around the world. NFI common shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol NFI. News and information are available at www.nfigroup.com, www.www.newflyer.com, www.mcicoach.com, www.arbocsv.com, www.alexander-dennis.com, and www.nfi.parts.

About New Flyer

New Flyer is North America’s heavy-duty transit bus leader and offers the most advanced product line under the Xcelsior^® and Xcelsior CHARGE™ brands. It also offers infrastructure development through New Flyer Infrastructure Solutions™, a service dedicated to providing safe, sustainable, and reliable charging and mobility solutions. New Flyer actively supports over 41,000 heavy-duty transit buses (New Flyer, NABI, and Orion) currently in service, of which 7,300 are powered by electric motors and battery propulsion and 1,600 are zero-emission. Further information is available at www.www.newflyer.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements relating to expected future events and financial and operating results of NFI Group that involve risks and uncertainties. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, investors cannot be assured that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements, and the differences may be material. Actual results may differ materially from management expectations as projected in such forward-looking statements for a variety of reasons, including market and general economic conditions and economic conditions of and funding availability for customers to purchase buses and to purchase parts or services, customers may not exercise options to purchase additional buses, the ability of customers to suspend or terminate contracts for convenience and the other risks and uncertainties discussed in the materials filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Due to the potential impact of these factors, the NFI Group disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law.

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[1] According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)