Mayor Bowser wants to cut DC Circulator service in half to save money…The cuts would get rid of three of the Circulator’s six routes — Rosslyn to Dupont Circle, Eastern Market to L’Enfant Plaza, and Woodley Park to McPherson Square Metro…City administrator Kevin Donahue told reporters that electrifying the buses is increasing costs.
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And in the UK…
These buses, valued at £800m and produced by Alexander Dennis, are equipped with batteries from Chinese manufacturer BYD, with investigations pointing to a potential fault in the HVAC system as the cause of the concern. In response, operators have been advised to disable the system when buses are not in use, while efforts are underway to devise a permanent solution to the fire hazard.
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Electric buses cost 50-100% more than their Diesel counterparts. A 2019 study by US PIRG predicted that such buses would nevertheless save transit agencies $400,000 apiece over their lifetimes due to lower fuel and maintenance costs. US PIRG relied on four “success stories” to justify this conclusion. Success story #1 was Seneca, South Carolina with the first all-electric bus fleet.
This summer we find that…
City of Seneca ending bus service
https://www.wspa.com/news/local-news/city-of-seneca-ending-bus-service/
The city has operated its all-electric fleet of buses for years, which travel around the city stopping in downtown Seneca, at grocery stores and at a local hospital. When the manufacturer that sold the buses to Seneca went bankrupt, Moulder said it became difficult to maintain the buses and equipment.
“We can no longer get service,” Moulder said. “We can no longer get parts. As the buses and chargers have difficulties, we have no way of getting them back online. Four of our six buses have actually been out of service for two years.”
The city looked into buying a new fleet of buses, but Moulder said the price tag is too high. “Each bus, we’re looking at close to $1 million in order to buy a bus so you’d be talking about close to $6 million,” Moulder said.
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The solution
We’ll see how it plays out in the real world. I wouldn’t put too much money on hydrogen, if I were you.
Meanwhile…
Capital Metro is slamming the brakes on an ambitious goal of transitioning to an all-electric bus fleet, citing problems with the range of battery-electric buses…
Diesel buses can run from early in the morning until past midnight. A battery bus only runs about 8 to 10 hours before it needs to be recharged, creating tough logistical hurdles in scheduling routes.
An analysis by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) — a state-funded research agency at Texas A&M University — found battery-electric buses could only cover 36% of Capital Metro’s bus schedules…Austin’s hills drain batteries faster. So does trying to cool buses in the city’s oppressive heat. But range shortcomings are only part of the problem.
Data obtained by KUT through the Texas Public Information Act revealed CapMetro’s battery-electric buses are far less reliable than their diesel counterparts. E-buses had mechanical failures on average every 1,623 miles over the last year — less than half the typical distance between failures for the fleet as a whole.
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Same problems many Tesla owners experience when they can’t get parts.
In the top caurosel of images is a map of the UK with the locations of these hydrogen busses. You need to rethink that.