The Monongalia County Board of Education (BOE) has approved a contract for the installation of charging stations at the transportation garage.
Technology services firm E-Solutions will install five charging stations for approximately $390,000, with a goal to have them ready to go by fall 2024. The contract includes the base installation of the charging stations, the installation of temporary stations, and service on the new technology for up to a year. Construction is expected to take place within the next couple of months.
“The base bid was $338,571, and then we had a one-year service agreement at a cost of $16,875 and a twenty-four-month warranty at $34,845,” said Monongalia County School Superintendent Eddie Campbell on the details of the contract.
The temporary charging stations will be installed ahead of construction of the permanent fixtures. This will allow for the single electric bus as part of Monongalia County Schools fleet to be charged at the Monongalia County Schools Transportation Garage after their morning and afternoon routes. Once the permanent charging stations are complete, they’re expected to be put to use immediately.
“Once they’re in, then they would be ready to go,” said Campbell. “We are going to have temporary stations because we’re going to have our buses before these are actually completed, we’re going to work with E-Solutions so we can charge the bus that we’re going to get.”
Additional electric buses that were projected to be part of the fleet are expected to be put on a temporary hold. After conversations with state officials as part of the West Virginia GreenPower Launch All-Electric School Bus Pilot Project, Campbell was told that other counties would be offered a chance to purchase a GreenPower Motor Company NANO BEAST before a second bus would be allowed for purchase. With positive feedback from the original NANO Beast that is now transporting special education students, the Monongalia County BOE still plans to add more electric buses to their fleet.
“They want the other counties in the state to have an opportunity to purchase an additional one,” said Campbell about the delay. “We wanted to do that, we were ready to pull the trigger on that, but the state said ‘let’s everyone else have a chance to get one,'” he said.
Despite the delay, Campbell and the rest of the Monongalia County Board of Education plan to be the first to be a part of the next wave of electric buses to be sold in the state program. Much like the charging station contract, the additional bus purchase will be eligible for reimbursement of up to 87.3 percent of the costs through the state. The hope for Monongalia County BOE is that their goal of having two or three electric buses transporting students can be achieved within the next couple of years.
“They’re going to start producing more so we should be in line within the next year or two to purchase another one,” said Campbell.
The GreenPower Motor NANO BEAST bus is projected to cost $285,000.