The wheels on the bus go round and round – and sometimes, the engines that make them do that are powered by electricity.
That’s what happens next week in Monongalia County, when the school district gets use of just such a bus, for a six-week pilot program that will gauge the success of said vehicle on Mon’s mountainous roads.
It’s all part of the alternative energy mission of GreenPower Motor Co., which will manufacture the zero-emission vehicles at its new facilities in South Charleston.
Mark Nestler, the company’s vice president of business development strategy, briefed Board of Education members during their meeting Tuesday.
“We’re excited,” he said, “and I want to stress the importance of your leadership.”
Electric buses are still trying to gain traction across the country, he said.
Pilot programs launched on a smaller scale five years ago in New England were met with mixed-results, he said – with the reason being that the technology wasn’t quite as sophisticated as it is now.
As he introduced GreenPower to West Virginia last January, Gov. Jim Justice said the state wants to go big in the enterprise.
“I’d like to be the first to welcome GreenPower to West Virginia with open arms,” he said then.
“We’re thrilled that you’ve chosen to live and work in the paradise that our state offers,” Justice said in a press release.
The operation is expected to initially bring in 200 new jobs to the state, with the potential workforce to eventually reach up to 900 new jobs – and the possibility of nearly $500 million a year, thereafter.
“As we continue to diversify our economy, manufacturing these zero-emission school buses in West Virginia will open up a world of opportunities for our state,” the governor said.
Opportunities, Nestler said, that are currently being charted one bus route at a time.
The same GreenPower BEAST bus – it stands for “battery electric alternative school transportation” – that is going on the road next week in Mon, has already made similar pilot runs in Kanawha, Cabell and Mercer counties.
Nestler said the bus will run a route, or prescribed routes, here Nov.2-Dec. 23. Officials with the district’s transportation office weren’t immediately available for contact Wednesday.
As students are being dropped off, key data will be picked up, he said.
“We’ll have a whole different scenario,” he said.
“You’ve got a lot more mountain terrain and we’ll have a little more cold weather.”
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