Marin Transit will buy two all-electric battery buses as part of a $1.6 million project to get cleaner-burning vehicles on the road.
The project will provide an opportunity to test the technology using the two 35-foot buses, expected to arrive in September 2017. The program will allow the district to develop expertise on the buses and steer future and potentially wider use of the battery-powered buses.
“Right now this is the direction that transit agencies are going,” said Anna Penoyar, capital analyst for Marin Transit. “More are adopting zero-emissions technology.”
The transit district is trying to get ahead of the California Air Resources Board’s proposed Advanced Clean Transit rule. An edict from the board is expected to require transit districts to use emission-free vehicles by 2040. Diesel exhaust particulate matter contains substances known to cause cancer and is a component of smog, according to the board.
While the date is two decades away, bus officials want to get a jump on the future.
“We want to get our feet wet and understand the technology,” Penoyar said.
The district now has a hybrid fleet of 18 diesel electric buses, along with 30 gasoline paratransit vehicles, 19 gasoline shuttle vehicles and 23 diesel buses. An additional 10 hybrids will be delivered in 2017.
Advances in electric battery technologies and government incentives have led to costs that are now comparable to hybrid buses, which run about $700,000 each. Driving ranges are still limited, but are suitable for local bus routes like those provided by Marin Transit.
The builder, Chinese manufacturer BYD, offers a slow-charge technology and a 12-year battery warranty. The buses will be built in California.
The slow-charging vehicles have a longer range and typically operate on one battery charge per day. Buses can be charged at the operator’s yards at night rather than requiring specialized fast-charge equipment at transit centers or along routes, officials said.
Unless a local jurisdiction prohibits it because of an existing electrical service contract, the new vehicles will be powered by Marin Clean Energy electricity.
The vehicles will operate on various routes throughout Marin and the project will measure performance, cost and reliability.
The $1.6 million cost includes purchase of the buses, GPS and fare collection equipment purchase and vehicle inspections. The project will be funded with a grant from the Federal Transit Administration, local Measure A transportation sales tax revenues dedicated for transit capital projects, and a Bay Area Air Quality Management District grant for zero-emission vehicles.
Through its Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project, the state’s air resources board will provide the manufacturer with an $111,000 voucher per vehicle, which reduces Marin Transit’s vehicle purchase price.
Infrastructure improvements to charge buses will be paid for primarily with local Measure B vehicle license fee funds dedicated to support electric vehicles.
The project is a collaboration between Marin Clean Energy, the Transportation Authority of Marin, the Golden Gate Bridge district and Marin Transit.
Golden Gate Transit ran a zero-emissions bus, powered by hydrogen fuel cells, as part of a pilot that started in 2013 and lasted for about two years.
“We’re studying the feasibility of all-electric vehicles for some of our shorter trips, but it’s still in the conceptual stage at this point,” said Priya Clemens, Golden Gate Transit spokeswoman.
Building electric buses in California “generates new clean tech jobs right here in our state and helps replace dirty buses — that generate high levels of pollution — with buses that have no tailpipe emissions at all,” Mary Nichols, California Air Resources Board chairwoman, said in a statement earlier this month.
©2016 The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
