BC Ferries mum on electric bus plans

As the academic year enters its seventh week, Gulf Islands School District (SD64) planners have yet to receive clarity from BC Ferries about how any of the electric school buses running on the islands might be transported off if repairs are needed.

The ferry company’s abrupt shift in policy over the summer to deny boarding for electric vehicles being towed — saying BC Ferries would, as a safety precaution, refuse to transport any EV not able to drive onto a ferry under its own power — was a surprise to almost everybody, according to SD64 secretary treasurer Jesse Guy, who told trustees Wednesday, Oct. 8 the company had so far offered no solutions for the district. 

“We have reached out to BC Ferries,” said Guy. “We’re really hoping that, as there has been a federal and a provincial push for electric buses — and since it is really the province that is buying the buses — that there will be a long-term solution.” 

Since the first zero-emission bus rolled out here in 2023, the district — and the province — has been investing heavily in battery-electric vehicles, with SD64’s fleet of them growing to five. That investment has brought considerable local savings, Guy said, partly because the district is uniquely suited for EV adoption. Guy said the cost per kilometre running an electric bus was turning out to be about one-third that of diesel — which, along with route reconfiguring, was saving the district some $20,000 per year. 

That savings is most pronounced in the “outer” islands, where the price of diesel reflects additional transport costs; Guy noted the district’s longest route was fully electrified, carrying students on Pender Island.

Guy told trustees Seaspan commercial ferries spokespeople have said they won’t take buses as freight, so any transport for maintenance looks increasingly likely to be through a private barging company.

“[Electrification of the bus fleet] had been a wonderful direction for us to go in that ticked every  box,” said Guy. “Now we have a complication in the system that provides some hesitancy.”

For its part, the ferry company has said the policy was based on federal safety regulations restricting the transport of damaged or compromised batteries — a rare but real safety risk, according to BC Ferries, particularly when the condition of that battery can’t be assessed.

“With more electric vehicles on our roads and ferries, we want to make sure we’re handling them safely,” said BC Ferries senior communications advisor Sonia Lowe last month, “especially because damaged or defective lithium-ion batteries can pose a significant fire risk in marine environments, where emergency services otherwise available on roadways aren’t available.”

Ferry officials said in September the company was “actively” looking into whether additional measures might be introduced, to certify when a vehicle is safe for transport — and that BC Ferries was in ongoing dialogue with automotive industry groups including towing, EV repair and insurance representatives. 

Shortly before press time, BC Ferries told the Driftwood there may be a relevant announcement later this month, but could not yet elaborate.

Meanwhile, Guy said, the district’s only “backup contingency” is to continue to keep three diesel buses as spares, as generally if any bus — electric or otherwise — needs significant work, it can be out-of-service longer than it might in districts not constrained by ferries.

“And internally, our thinking is that if anything even starts to look like it’s going wrong [with any electric buses], we’ll get them off-island,” said Guy. “We won’t ‘wait and see.’”