(Picture Source:- Barbados Today)
The possibility of Barbados assembling electric buses was a very real one. This is the opinion of Mr Ralph “Bizzy” Williams and business partner Mr Wayne Clarke after completing a very successful test ride from the Pine headquarters of the Licensing Authority to Bathsheba in St Joseph in an electric bus
The vehicle which will be used in Government’s Transport Augmentation Programme and was financed by Mr Williams chairman of Williams Industries and Director of Special Projects Mr David Staples and assembled by Mr Wayne Clarke and Dan Johnson an engineer. The project took 18 months to complete
Mr Williams noted that it has taken a long time and a lot of money to get it done referring to the completed project. He went on to say that it can be done, there is no question about it. He is absolutely 100 per cent confident that it can be done, but he would have to build a factory for for producing similar buses since they cant be produced in the little workshops.
Mr Williams suggested that it would have to be a long production line and that they would have to train a lot of people to do the technology
Mr Clarke revealed that while it cost between $800,000 to $900,000 to transform the old Transport Board bus to an electric vehicle, but future convesuins would take $500,000 to $600,000 for any future conversions.
He thinks the project can go a long way if it receives some assistance from Government. He said that part of a business is costs and once they are allowed to streamline costs and can scale that bus they can produce a lot of those buses.
He is of the opinion that with a production plant going where this can be done on a production line all of the buses can be produced because there are so many buses sitting down at the Transport Board just idle that can be refurbished and converted and save the country much needed foreign reserves.”
