GREENFIELD — With a vote of support from the Greenfield School Committee, electric vehicle charging stations may be installed at schools across the city.
Committee members agreed last week that they would support the city if it wished to pursue installation of electric vehicle charging stations in various school parking lots, although they added that the school district should not take the lead on the project as proceeds from use of the stations would go to the city’s general fund, not the schools.
For the past few months, the committee has been discussing a proposal from Fulcrum Energy Solutions, an energy equipment design firm based in Fall River. Fulcrum representatives suggested that state grant funding could be used to install one to four Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations at each of the schools.
During a recent meeting, committee members expressed concerns with the chargers leading to strain on already limited parking at some of the schools, as well as having people who are not affiliated with the schools on site charging their vehicles during school hours. They determined that as the owners of the chargers, the school district could set the hours they would be available for the public to use and could shut them off so they could not be used during school hours.
“I think putting them in parking lots that are already crowded may be a problem,” member Melodie Goodwin said.
Member Elizabeth DeNeeve said she drives an electric vehicle and there is a limited number of charging stations in Greenfield. She said installing more chargers would potentially encourage more drivers to get them.
“I cannot tell you how wonderful and beneficial it will be for the EV owners of Franklin County to be able to use something other than ChargePoint and Tesla,” DeNeeve said. “This will truly open the world for more EVs on our streets, and that’s better for our environment.”
Passenger vans
The committee also tackled another vehicle-related matter during last week’s meeting: whether to lease or purchase three new passenger vans for the district.
Andy Paquette, the school’s business manager, said it is time to replace several aging vehicles in the district’s fleet, and in doing so, the district is proposing to replace three minivans that can fit five passengers with three larger vans that could fit 10 passengers.
“It was brought from the transportation director the idea to get the transit-style vehicles that allowed for 10-passenger capacity to hopefully replace the old vehicles that are in need of replacement,” Paquette said. “And also increase our capacity to potentially look at route configuration so that we could end up using more, resulting in less staffing needs, based on our struggles, as we know, as far as hiring drivers.”
Paquette said the district has received several quotes for vans, ranging from $66,500 to $86,450, and the administration has not yet determined whether it would be more cost-effective to purchase or lease the vehicles. He added that the transportation revolving fund has enough money saved to either purchase or lease the vehicles.
School Committee members voted unanimously to authorize the administration to proceed with acquiring the vans, and to make the determination as to whether to lease or purchase.
