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District says electric buses delayed; vendors to be on site first week of February
Summary
School officials outlined technical problems with the district fleet of electric buses, reported a single run-out-of-charge incident on Morgan Highway, and said Rohrer technicians will be on site during the week of Feb. 2 to resolve charging and battery issues.
District staff and transportation contractors told the board on Jan. 27 that several technical issues are delaying operation of the district electric bus fleet and that vendor technicians will be on campus the week of Feb. 2 to try to fix chargers, onboard systems and battery problems.
Julie Maloney, supervisor of transportation, said issues include charging station performance and the buses inability to hold a charge; representatives from Rohrer Buses were scheduled to be on site starting Feb. 2 for about a week, she said. Maloney said Thomas Built Buses representatives had identified problems with 12-volt batteries on some vehicles.
Maloney also corrected a circulating account about an electric bus on Interstate 81. She said no bus was stranded on I-81; one electric bus ran out of charge on the Morgan Highway after a wrestling meet at Abington Heights and students were picked up by a second bus.
While the district works to make the electric fleet operational, diesel buses are continuing to run regular routes. Maloney said the district and its contractors want the electric fleet on the road because it will return money to the district once operational, and the district wants to recover any available contract remedies if deliveries or performance fall short.
John Freund (recorded in transcript as John Forend) was reviewing the contract and told the board he was not aware of any contractual breach at that time. Pete's Garage representatives and contractor staff were present for questions.
Board members asked whether the delivery issues had interrupted service; Maloney said no, diesel buses were covering routes while electric vehicles remain offline. The district said it will update the board after the Rohrer visit and when it has a formal status report.
