MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Monongalia County Schools will begin a six-week test program with an electric school bus Wednesday.
The testing will be with the BEAST, a Battery Electric Assisted Student Transportation manufactured by the GreenPower.
GreenPower Vice President for Business Development Mark Nestlen said the technology has been vastly improved since the last pilot program was conducted in New England about five years ago. Nestlen said electric buses are still very much proving their worth and there are high hopes for this pilot project.
“We are assuring what these vehicles can in fact do out there for you,” Nestlen said. “What is the real life, real world scenario- the range, the concerns and all of these things.”
Earlier this year, Gov. Justice welcomed the GreenPower production facility to South Charleston that is expected to bring 200 jobs now and the possibility of up to 900 in the future. The company is operating on about 9.5 acres in an 80,000-square foot facility.
“The nation is watching this pilot project as it’s happening and the nation is looking for the data results we’re seeing,” Nestlen said.
These buses are have recently completed a pilot period in Kanawha, Cabell and Mercer counties. Now the program comes to the north in somewhat different conditions and as the temperature drops.
“We’ll have a whole different scenario because you have a little more mountain terrain up here and we’re going to have a little more cold weather,” Nestlen said. “And for those that don’t know heat saps energy more than air conditioning does.”
This bus has individual vents for heating and cooling that are operated by the student. The bus can seat 90 students, plus the driver and a direct drive system (no transmission)that can reach a top speed of 68-miles-per-hour.
“Maybe if heat isn’t working in one part of the bus it might be that a kid turned the valve off and you need to go back and look at it when you’re stopped,” Nestlen said.
The bus will operate in the Monongalia County School district from Nov. 2 to Dec. 23. Clay, Grant and Ohio counties are also participating during this test period.
“We’ll get a really solid indication of what your state of charge is, what your miles are going to be in a real world scenario,” Nestlen said.