Federal Grant Providing Electric Buses to Utah is a Win for Clean Air

The Utah Transit Authority has received a $5.4 million “low or no” emission vehicle deployment grant from the Federal Transit Administration for the purchase of five new electric buses. The fleet will support service from downtown Salt Lake City to the University of Utah, UTA’s partner in securing the grant.

Three of the electric buses will be put into service on Route 2 serving downtown and traveling through the heart of the central business district on 200 South, all the way up to the University of Utah. Route 2 makes frequent stops and serves a variety of populations.

“Providing environmentally friendly public transportation is one of UTA’s long-term goals. We are happy to be able to put these electric buses into service right through the center of Salt Lake City, where the air pollution sometimes gets trapped and where so many people work, live and play,” said Matt Sibul, UTA chief planning officer.

The other two all-electric buses will run on a new University of Utah shuttle route through the center of campus, supporting the university’s Energy and Environmental Stewardship Initiative: 2010 Climate Action Plan.

“It is a direct health benefit to provide electric bus service through the heart of campus without pumping emissions into the air,” said Alma Allred executive director of Commuter Services. “This fits with one of the University’s goals of helping the people of Utah improve their health and quality of life.” 

These are the first zero-emission all electric buses to be purchased and operated by UTA. Right now the agency has a fleet of low-emission buses that includes 32 hybrid electric and 47 CNG buses.

Besides UTA and the University of Utah, other entities came together to begin to implement this zero-emission public transit effort, which is naturally aligned with many of their goals, air quality being chief among them.

Part of the grant will also support these partners: Utah State University, which will provide data collection and analysis and technical assistance; the Utah Governor’s Office of Energy Development, a local match partner through its statewide energy policy; Rocky Mountain Power, a utility partner providing infrastructure support and grid optimization; New Flyer, the bus manufacturer; and CALSTART, a leading advanced transportation technologies consortium providing data collection, analysis and technical assistance and grid optimization.

The five new zero-emission battery-electric buses will be purchased from New Flyer.  They will run on batteries based on the stylized Xcelsior platform—a proven bus with over 6,000 deliveries in North America. New Flyer’s Siemens ELFA Electric Drive System results in an energy conversion efficiency of 97 percent, compared to 93 percent for other types of electric buses. When braking, the motor acts as a generator to recover energy. 

Each all-electric bus will save almost 6000 gallons of diesel fuel (or equivalent) per year. For the three electric buses UTA will be operating on Route 2, that’s a savings of approximately 175 metric tons of gas emissions per year.

Delivery of the buses could come as early as 2018 with revenue service beginning after a period of testing and all operating agreement being signed.