Chair of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School transportation subcommittee Kathryn Shertzer informed the committee the school was being considered for an Environmental Protection Agency grant that would be used to fund additional electric school buses.
The school currently has two electric buses and two charging stations. Should the school be selected for the grant, Shertzer said the timeline to be able to store and charge the additional EV buses would be five years.
There were talks with the VTA about potentially charging and storing the additional electric vehicles, but the VTA would be unable to accommodate the request, because of a lack of space for storing and charging on its campus.
The school was not selected for the grant on the first attempt, but a second application has been submitted. The committee is awaiting the decision.
“If we did get into that, we would be put into a tight spot in which to have space to charge those vehicles,” said Shertzer.
Next steps involve speaking with the Airport Commission about developing land at the Airport Business Park for vehicle-charging stations and storage.
Shertzer said it looked like a five-year outlook to plan and construct the potential new electric bus campus.
“There’s a lot happening,” said Shertzer. “I think it’s something that we would need to come back to the committee, to find out if that’s something we’re interested in,” should the school be selected for the grant.
What’s the cost difference between gas or diesel and electric and what’s the history of dependability of the electric buses? I think if the Times really did a deep dive into the situation they would find that these buses cost about 4 times as much and operate at about 50% capacity . Not such a good deal for taxpayers.
John– let me follow suit and say that I think electric busses are 700 times more efficient, will only cost $3,000 and will run for 3 weeks on one charge that cost 15 cents and will save the taxpayers millions of dollars.
But why wait for the times to do a “deep study”?
We have real world data from the VTA, and a few thousand cities and towns across the country, which is all publicly available. Even the MVRHS has been running electric busses for a few years. Why wait for the times ? Just call the MVRHS school up ( 508-693-1033 ) , connect to the right person, and ask why they want more e busses since they are so inefficient and expensive.
Either that, or just believe your facts, and I’ll believe mine. By the way, if my facts were actually true, why would you not want to save the local taxpayers millions of dollars?
If we are going to go with “alternative facts” , mine sound a whole lot better than yours, wouldn’t you agree ?
If you don’t want to go with my “facts”, or actually find out about reality, you should make up some more of your own that make your side of the debate look better. You could say for instance, that gas busses can avoid traffic by flying over them. Why not?
And then you the win the debate because I have to admit, electric busses can’t fly.
If you check the facts with the school the will affirm my cost estimate and how often these buses operate on a daily basis. They seem to be in favor of more because of the grant, not because they have had much success with the two electric buses they have now.
John– I am getting a little tired of being the one who always checks the facts and presents them , with sources, only to have people not believe them.
How about if for once YOU check the FACTS, and present something to back them up ? HMMMMM– what a novel idea !
And then I will interject my baseless OPINION about why you are wrong, or the facts and statistics you present are twisted to conform to your agenda. Or better yet, come up with something else for you to check.
And then you can do more research and prove that your facts and statistics are actually correct
Then I can start asking “whatabout” questions that sow doubt on your argument.
You might find it interesting to have my shoe on your foot.
In the meantime, I’m sticking with the idea that the e-busses are 700 times more efficient and will save us millions of dollars every year. Prove me wrong.
Just once– show me some verifiable information that they are not.
Trust me– If you present one verifiable source that indicates I am incorrect about that, I will in fact admit that e busses are not 700 times more efficient than gasguzbusses. — catchy word there, don’t cha’ think ?
What source are you using to claim that electric buses cost of four times as much?
“operate at about 50% capacity”
Do you mean that an an electric bus can only carry half as many students?
Or that an electric bus has half the range?
Island schools buses do not need a range of more than 50 miles.
They can be charged in the middle of the day , if needed.
What isn’t a good deal for the taxpayer is technically/research challenged people who misrepresent reality.
https://cleantechnica.com/2022/02/02/the-real-cost-of-electric-school-buses-is-lower-than-you-think/
Like wind mills, solar panels and electric cars and trucks, electric schools buses are not question of if but how fast.
The Conservative Nattering Nabobs of Negativity will not stop it.
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