Big news from the California Air Resource Board when it comes to public transportation, EV buses will replace gas and diesel powered ones in ALL of California by 2040.
For the price of a single bus ticket, by 2040 and ramping up until then, everyday people can start to enjoy EV vehicles as major public transit authorities are committing to electric buses for their entire fleet, some, like Sam Trans, have already bought their last diesel bus. As per the San Jose Mercury News in their breaking report on the latest going on’s in the California Air Resource Board they posted about earlier yesterday (Oct. 2, 2018) we’re going to hear big news about buses from Sacramento on Friday when several transit authorities commit to EV buses for the future.
Buses are the perfect test bed and application for batteries and electric motors. With public transportation buses on fixed routes and timetables, it’s easy to track just how many miles a bus travels in a single day. ZD Net reports that a gas bus, and any bus for that matters, on average travels less than 81 miles in a single day. A London bus, one of the busiest buses in the industry, only travels 100 miles.
Proterra, one of the largest and best EV bus makers out their has EV buses that can go 390 miles and beyond on a single charge. Their cheapest FC series of buses has the least operating range of between 33-79 miles, which is not that much with that 33 miles probably being with a full load of people, all the lights on and A/C cranked to the max (think a busy, hot, and muggy night.) But, consider that these buses have special overhead chargers installed at bus depots and charging stations that can, on average, replenish about 50 percent of that range in 10 minutes with a full charge, on that cheapest bus, taking an hour.
Just to flex, Proterra has a bus that can go 1,100 miles on one charge, although that was to break a world record and was done under very specific conditions.
The SJ Mercury News further reports that many of those bus companies already committing to this 2040 goal, have EV buses on their route.
There are 130 electric buses being tested statewide. MUNI hopes to beat the 2040 mandate by five years. VTA is running electric buses on Line 10 also known as the Airport Flyer. The VTA will likely not purchase any bus using diesel, natural gas or gasoline after 2027.
The message is clear, if buses can be all electric, why not all cars.
EV is the future for public transportation, an emissions-free future (depending on where you charge) that should pay-off for generations to come.
And this is just the beginning.
