Muskogee County Transit purchases electric vehicle

Mar. 11—An all-electric vehicle could help Muskogee County Transit offer services more cost-effectively, officials said.

The transit service presented its new five-seat, two wheelchair electric van during a media conference Friday morning at Depot Green.

"We will be starting next week in a more efficient, cost-effective and cleaner way," said Muskogee County Transit Executive Director Dena Wilson. "This is a great start for a better tomorrow, for our children and our grandchildren."

Wilson said the vehicle, a 2022 Ford E-Transit 550, will provide on-demand micro-transit within the city. It will have no gas emissions.

Muskogee County Transit Operations Manager Jon Moore said the service received a federal grant of $116,000 for the vehicle.

Moore said the van is on a 2022 chassis and fully compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act.

"It can hold a wheelchair and has lower steps so people with disabilities can get on board," Moore said, demonstrating how lift in the rear can load wheelchairs.

"We expect we can get 30 to 40 trips per day, just in the six hour shift it would provide," he said.

Wilson said the van can go eight hours, or 126 miles, between charges.

"The route we plan to put it on runs six hours a day and about 100 miles a day, so the charge will be more than sufficient to run on that route," Wilson said.

The van will be charged by a special unit at the Muskogee County Transit garage, she said. "Our facility is large enough that we house all our vehicles inside, and we have plenty of electricity to plug it in with the chargers we got when we got it."

She said the main difference between driving the electric van and the other vehicles is that "when you take your foot off the gas, it immediately engages the brake because it adds power back through itself through the brakes."

Wilson said she cannot estimate how much Muskogee County Transit will save on gas because savings must be offset by the difference in the electric bill and maintenance.

James Hodge Ford, one of the transit partners, will do service work on the van, she said.

Muskogee is the first community in Oklahoma to get an all-electric transit van, said Jared Schwennesen, who heads Oklahoma Department of Transportation's multi-modal division. Oklahoma City and Tulsa has larger, all-electric buses, he said.

"I spoke about range anxiety on EV (electric vehicle), especially in the rural communities, because they don't know how far they can go," Schwennesen said. "But when we find great solutions, like micro-transit in these communities, until electric vehicle infrastructure can be built out further, this is just a great solution to start."

Transit Board Chairwoman Mary Hicks said the service "will have more resources available to meeting the curb-to-curb demands."

"And taking a step toward cleaner transport," Hicks said.

Mayor Marlon Coleman said the van will help provide transportation for the city's needy.

"We have many people within our community who deserve the type of public transportation being offered through Muskogee County Transit," he said. "We are talking about the first of hopefully many electric transports in the city."