Antelope Valley Transit Authority’s electric fleet passes 10 million electric mile mark
Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA) staff informed the AVTA Board of Directors the agency’s electric fleet had passed the 10 million electric mile mark on Jan. 24.
AVTA Chairman of the Board Marvin Crist congratulated the agency and highlighted some of the benefits to the community that are a result of the electrification of AVTA’s fleet.
“This is big! No one has come close to these numbers,” Crist said. “In those 10 million electric miles, approximately 2.5 million gallons of diesel fuel have been saved. That equates to a net savings of $3,375,000 in fuel costs after paying for electricity. Additionally, the 10 million all-electric miles represent a carbon footprint reduction of more than 59.4 million pounds of CO2 and 187,000 pounds of particulate matter.”
As the first and largest all-electric local bus fleet in North America, AVTA accumulates more electric miles every day of service to the Antelope Valley community. AVTA operates 57 buses in their local fixed route fleet, all of which are zero-emission, BYD electric buses, manufactured in the Antelope Valley. AVTA also has eight fully electric vans and a fleet of 24 zero-emission, high-capacity, electric commuter coaches from MCI. This combined electric fleet continues to add up the electric miles serving residents of the Antelope Valley around Lancaster, Palmdale, and the unincorporated portions of northern Los Angeles County, such as Pearblossom, Littlerock and Lake Los Angeles.
Since February 2016, when the AVTA Board of Directors voted to award a contract to BYD to manufacture electric buses over a five-year period at BYD’s facility in Lancaster, AVTA has been on the path to pioneering battery electric bus transportation. The project has created a smarter, greener and more interconnected transit system serving the Antelope Valley and areas extending south into the Los Angeles basin. By combining groundbreaking electric bus technology with wireless inductive charging technology, AVTA’s innovative bus project is the first of its kind in the nation.
AVTA provides local, commuter and dial-a-ride service to a population of more than 450,000 residents in the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale, as well as the unincorporated portions of northern Los Angeles County. Its total service area covers 1,200 square miles, and it is bounded by the Kern County line to the north, the San Bernardino County line to the east, the Angeles National Forest to the south and Interstate 5 to the west.
