Duke Energy gives a charge to electric bus service in Triangle with $300,000 in grants

CHARLOTTE – Duke Energy Corp. announced two grants to help fund electric bus-charging stations in the Triangle area Tuesday, totaling $300,000.

GoRaleigh and GoTriangle, two transit agencies covering Wake, Durham and Orange counties, will receive $200,000 and $100,000, respectively. These funds will help offset the costs of installing a total of seven new charging stations.

“We’re pleased our grants can help transit agencies in the Triangle area transition to cleaner bus fleets that help the environment,” said Stephen De May, Duke Energy’s North Carolina president, said in a press release.

GoRaleigh plans to purchase five new electric buses in addition to the new charging stations. The buses are scheduled to arrive in August and September of 2020.

RDU International Airport also recently added electric buses to its fleet.

GoTriangle operates 69 buses and averages more than 6,000 boardings a day on its routes in Wake, Durham and Orange counties, Duke Energy noted.

“We greatly appreciate Duke Energy’s investment in our electric-bus efforts,” says Shelley Blake Curran, GoTriangle’s interim CEO and president. “As we improve and increase our services that better connect all points of the Triangle every year, we are excited to be exploring ways to better protect the environment, too.”

Asheville and Greensboro also recently received aid from Duke Energy for electric bus charging.

Duke Energy is an energy-holding company serving customers in six states. Shares of the company were trading at $87.28 Tuesday, down 32 cents.

This story is from the North Carolina Business News Wire, a service of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media.