Monongalia County Schools will have another electric bus added to their fleet.
After a successful trial run of the Battery Electric Assisted Student Transportation (BEAST) manufactured by GreenPower Motor Company Inc., the Monongalia County Board of Education (BOE) approved the purchase of an additional bus with a smaller capacity (NANO BEAST). The bus will cost approximately $285,000, with Monongalia County Schools expected to be reimbursed for the majority of the funds through the West Virginia GreenPower Launch All-Electric School Bus Pilot Project. This is in addition to the application to receive a second NANO BEAST bus through the pilot program, which is expected to be finalized within the next few months.
“We liked the experience that we had, we just wanted a smaller version,” said School Superintendent Eddie Campbell on the purchase and application for two NANO Beast buses. “So when we had the opportunity to apply for the smaller version, that was the one we did, and then we decided to go ahead and purchase a second one,” he said.
The NANO BEAST will be able to seat up to 24 passengers during a normal school day. The goal of the additional bus is to transport special education students around densely populated parts of the county. The NANO BEAST will join the original BEAST model received by the county school system in late 2022 as part of the state pilot program. The combination of both the 24 passenger and 90 passenger buses is expected to be put into full use by 2024 in locations considered ideal for the new vehicles.
“It’ll really be centralized in our more urban areas, where we don’t have a lot of hills and those types of things,” said Campbell.
An application for a third electric bus is expected to move forward with the Monongalia County BOE after the approval of the NANO BEAST purchase. Each bus will hold a charge for over 100 miles of driving, regardless of traffic-related slowdowns, with a gas efficiency equivalent of 48 miles per gallon. If a third bus is approved through the state pilot program, Campbell expects all three buses could be used on a normal school day, with Monongalia County School mechanics already familiar with the maintenance of the vehicles.
“We’re told that they will hold a charge for up to 150 miles in normal driving conditions,” said Campbell of the battery power of the NANO BEAST.
A contract for charging stations located at the Monongalia County Schools Transportation Garage is expected to be up for BOE approval in October 2023. To account for what could be three electric school buses that will transport students, five charging stations will be installed, with a projected bid price of $366,000. Once the contract is approved, it will also be eligible for reimbursement of up to 87.3 percent of the costs through the state, the same amount that was applied for the purchase of the NANO BEAST. Campbell hopes to have the finer details of the contract settled within the next few weeks.
“Bids are in, we have done a public opening for the bids, we are going to be meeting with the top bidder, and hopefully we will bring a bid for approval to the board at the October 24th meeting,” said Campbell.
The purchase of the NANO BEAST bus will be paid through the general fund before reimbursements.