Kitsap Transit decided this week to purchase six more electric buses to add to the two is already has.

KT executive director John Clauson said the acquisition adds to its mission of converting to electric vehicles.

The resolution includes the purchase of eleven 40-foot buses – six electric and five diesel – at a cost of $9.15 million.

“It’s pretty significant in our electric bus fleet,” he said. “It coincides with a project we’re just about to break ground on which is going to be adding charging capacity at our Charleston facility, and we are looking at adding charging capacity at our north base facility as well.

“We’re also proposing to use some of our current funding to start installing some…charging units at some of our transit centers so that basically we would be able to run these buses 24/7.”

According to documents, $6.35 million will be used for the electric buses while $2.8 million will be used for the diesel buses. The buses will be purchased utilizing the Commonwealth of Virginia and state Department of Enterprise Services contract.

“This is a rather complicated resolution, primarily because we’re buying these off of two different contracts,” Clauson said. “The electric buses we’re buying through a contract with the Commonwealth of Virginia. They have the best price that we have been able to find…The diesel buses we actually got through the state.”

The timeline for when the buses will be put into use and the areas where they will be used is unknown. The buses will replace others that have met their “useful life,” documents read.