It will be a charged atmosphere Wednesday, Jan. 15 at Monongalia County Schools’ transportation department.
That’s because three more BEAST buses – “BEAST,” as in, “battery electric alternative school transportation” – are rolling into the district garage at Mylan Park.
GreenPower Motor Co. builds the buses at its plant in South Charleston.
“They definitely have a need and they definitely have their place,” said Mike Kelly, the Mon Board of Education president who is a wrench-turner from way back.
Kelly grew up working on cars and is an auto racer hobbyist who also holds a slot in the West Virginia Drag Racing Hall of Fame.
He’ll give remarks when the district takes delivery of the buses at 11 a.m. at the garage.
GreenPower’s president Brendan Riley and district superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr. are also on the bill.
In terms of the fitting for a new reality of transporting students to and from, GreenPower fits the bill, Kelly said.
“I remember when our buses were all-gasoline,” the longtime board member said.
“Then we went to diesel and bi-diesel,” he remembered. “Then it was propane. And now, more and more electric buses are on the road.”
Mon’s roads, in fact, were part of the pilot project in 2022, when outgoing Gov. Jim Justice inked a $15 million partnership with the manufacturer to supply its alternate-running buses to the Mountain State.
District drivers ran the full gamut of the county’s diverse thoroughfares, which bring everything from gridlock within Morgantown’s city limits – to oh-so-gingerly navigation on narrow, mountainous roads in Mon’s outer reaches.
The shape-shifting roads here even steered the company to a home-grown mantra, as voiced by GreenPower’s development officer Mark Nestlen at the time.
“If we can drive ‘em in West Virginia,” he mused, “we can drive ‘em anywhere.”
Tony Harris, the transportation director of Mon Schools, gives GreenPower top grades in that regard.
Harris drove a school bus for 20 years in neighboring Preston County, before moving into administration.
And, in Mon, he’s driven the BEAST buses on most of the district’s bus routes – either for test runs or the real thing in the morning and afternoon.
He’s impressed with the handling, he said. He’s even more impressed the savings of up to 80% the buses also deliver in operating costs.
All that, he said, with zero emissions and a normal battery range of 100-150 miles per charge. The bus garage is also equipped with charging station.
