Electric Buses

Aerospace and Defense leader BAE Systems revealed Wednesday it had received an order for up to 1,229 battery electric buses, the largest of its kind in North America to date.

Boston Public Schools has kicked off an ambitious new program to eventually convert its entire fleet of 750 vehicles to electric. The first Blue Bird Vision electric school buses are now in service, transporting thousands of students daily in what local government officials are calling the largest electric bus deployment in the Northeast.

Endera, which manufactures mid-sized commercial EVs, just scored the largest state EV bus contract in the United States to date. 

The number of full-size transit zero-emission buses in the US saw a 66% increase since 2021, according to newly released data.

Kleanbus, which just completed its first prototype vehicle, strips diesel engines out of five- to 10-year-old buses and replaces them with electric powertrains.

Transport for London (TfL) has unveiled its latest clean public transport – 20 fully electric tram-buses. These futuristic, bubble-like London buses will run on the 358 route from Crystal Palace to Orpington from 2023.

Montgomery County, Maryland, is on a roll. Earlier this month, it deployed the single largest electric school bus fleet – 86 – in the US. Now 70 of the county’s electric buses will be powered at a solar-powered, microgrid energy storage depot in Brookville.

The Biden Administration today announced the recipients of nearly $1 billion of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2022 Clean School Bus Program rebate competition. In other words, that means thousands of new electric school buses will soon hit the road across the US.

Montgomery County Public Schools, one of the largest school districts in the US, has deployed the single largest electric school bus fleet in the country.

Electric buses are an upgrade over their gas-powered counterparts in every single way. New technology and software solutions are unlocking the potential behind these zero-emission heavy-duty EVs.The mighty machines are now being used to build a vehicle-to-building (V2B) “resilience hub” with emergency backup capabilities.

During a presentation at IAA Transportation in Germany this week, Chinese EV manufacturer Build Your Dreams (BYD) has shared a myriad of new commercial EV technologies that will initially debut in Europe. The most prominent of the bunch is BYD’s new eBus platform, which is powered by BYD’s durable Blade Batteries, currently being used in its passenger EVs.

EV conversion specialists Lightning eMotors has announced its second-generation repower program that enables large transit combustion buses that previously ran on diesel or compressed natural gas (CNG) to be converted to all-electric buses. Better yet, Lightning is helping fleet customers of these electrified conversions maximize the same federal and state funding they would receive if they were purchasing brand new electric buses.

A new Proterra-powered electric transit bus is set to hit the roads in 2023. Proterra announced a new partnership with Eldorado National California (ENC) for the next generation of electric transit buses.

Swedish-Kenyan mobility company ROAM has followed up the launch of its first production-intent model of electric motorcycles with the launch of its first all-electric bus built for mass transit in Africa. The ROAM Rapid is an electric bus specifically designed to address the unique challenges of public transport in Nairobi and Africa as a whole. Check it out.

Relatively new EV automaker ElectricBrands has unveiled a Camper version of its XBUS electric van, which originally debuted last year. While many of the pertinent details of this XBUS Camper variant remain a mystery, ElectricBrands has shared several images and claimed the EV is “at the top of customers’ reservation lists.” Check out the gallery below.

US Vice President Kamala Harris and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan are today launching the Clean School Bus program, a part of President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, from a high school in Falls Church, Virginia.

Maine’s first electric public transit vehicles – four Proterra ZX5 35-foot buses – went into service on the streets of Portland yesterday.

Burlingame, California-headquartered Proterra, which builds electric commercial vehicles, today announced that it’s increasing the battery storage onboard its purpose-built ZX5 Max electric transit bus – and that means more range.

The governor of Nevada, Steve Sisolak (D-NV), signed a multi-state agreement yesterday that pledges at least 30% of all new trucks and buses sold will be zero emission by 2030, and 100% will be zero emission by 2050.

The Antelope Valley Transit Authority (ATVA) board of directors and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently celebrated a journey to electrification that began a decade ago. Now, the ATVA has become the first all-electric, zero emissions transit agency in North America.

Lots of news in the segment of electric school buses this week, as Highland Electric Fleets signed an agreement with Thomas Built Buses to provide lower upfront costs to customers and expedite EV adoption; their letter of intent will put the price of an electric bus at cost parity with the traditional diesel option. On the opposite US coast, InCharge Energy and its partners announced a project in Southern California to deploy 42 electric school buses, calling it the largest fleet in the state.