GTrans, a public transit agency located in Gardena, California, received grant funds from the California Energy Commission for this project. Seeking to improve the sustainability of their operations, GTrans worked with Complete Coach Works to provide five battery-electric buses to the fleet (4 repowered and remanufactured; 1 new bus). GTrans installed three charging points to power the buses at their facility.
To address workforce training, the Southern California Regional Transit Training Consortium developed a curriculum to help orient both technical staff and operators to these new vehicles. Bus operators in multiple areas noted the expected difficulties of deploying a new technology but the problems were not critical, and their thorough training prepared them well to adapt. Maintenance teams were required to take on additional duties, including charging the buses and monitoring their energy reserves while in service.
Data, including vehicle performance data, operator records, maintenance data, and utility bills, was collected over a period of more than 12 months of normal operations on all five buses beginning with the first deployment in November 2016. The collected data sources were synthesized and analyzed, with conclusions including that the electric buses drove shorter daily distances than their conventional counterparts, there were major improvements in efficiency, and operating costs decreased (fuel costs were roughly one half; maintenance costs were roughly two thirds of standard). The fleet of five electric buses, as run by GTrans during this demonstration project, saved 15,000 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually. From an emissions perspective, these savings are equivalent to removing 90 passenger vehicles from the road each year.
The results of this project have inspired GTrans to continue experimenting with electric bus technology. GTrans has a great head start in adopting zero-emission buses and it will be exciting to watch their progress in years to come.
