Electric motorcoach hits the road on test drive between Charlottetown and Summerside

One of North America's first completelybattery-powered motorcoach buses hit the road on P.E.I.Monday, asmanufacturers and Island operators looked to woo provincial and municipal officials with a demonstration.

Motor Coach Industries has been touring the vehicle across the United States and recently began demonstrating in Canada. Monday's drive was a round trip from Charlottetown to Summerside.

"This is the very first real green option in terms of intercommunity motorcoaches,"said Michael McDonald with Motor Coach Industries.

"So this is the big opportunity to be pioneers in green energy and electrification of transportation."

The bus is able to drive 250 kilometres on a full charge. Recharging the battery takes a little less than three hours.

The demonstration was done on a model that costs about $1.3 million. Models designed for shorter distances would be cheaper.

Maritime Bus owner Mike Cassidy said he would be looking to add at least five battery-powered buses to his company by 2022.

He said he would be looking at sharing the costs with the federal and provincial governments.

"In our industry, I think that I have a huge responsibility to promote different ways, different modes and the electric propulsion rather than diesel, in my mind is something that we have a responsibility to do," Cassidy said.

It would mean the company would have to install charging units, trainmechanics and purchasedifferent equipment to maintain the buses.

Minister of Transportation Steven Myers said his department would be willing to provide funding.

"I think it's important to remember that ...a big part of reducingour [greenhouse gases]is expanding our bus system," Myers said.

He said it's possible government'sinvestment would be millions of dollars.Cassidy said the savings on carbon emissions, fuel and maintenance would be worth it.

The demonstration was an interesting experience for everyday operators and passengers.

"It's really cool here and it's very quiet," said Kellian Campbell, a Holland College student who commutes from Charlottetown to Summersideevery day for school.

"I think based on the environmental factor I would definitely take this over a diesel bus."

'A big golf cart'

Bus driver Gelasius Curran comparedthe driving experience to "a big golf cart."

"You would get that easy acceleration whenever you touch the throttle," Curran said.

"My biggest concern coming out from Charlottetown was to stay below 50 km/h. If you're not careful it will put you over the limit."

There was one point during the demonstration the bus wouldn't drive. The driver and manufacturer were able to fix the problem by restarting the vehicle's computer.McDonald, with Motor Coach Industries, said the company is still ironing out some wrinkles in the software.

"It's little things like that, you know, that are actually really small problems in the long-run," McDonald said.

"We think we've solved all the big stuff so it's just ... a laundry list of a couple of small problems that we need to fix."

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