WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — The Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) announced today, May 10th, they have received 2 zero-emission, battery-powered electric GILLIG buses. These will be the first all-electric buses in the WTA fleet.
WTA Spokesperson Maureen McCarthy told Whatcom News in an email that they will rotate the all-electric buses through nearly all routes while monitoring their performance. “It’s likely that certain route conditions will be better than others for performance. If that’s the case, we may limit them to a subset of routes in the future.”
When asked if there were any concerns regarding winter weather conditions, McCarthy said, “We expect them to be very similar to our hybrid buses when driving on snow and ice. Those have an electric motor too, and they work well in wintry road conditions.”
The buses were purchased using a “Low or no emissions bus program” grant from the Federal Transit Administration. WTA submitted their application for the grant in 2018. The grant covers 80% of the cost of the buses along with the installation of 2 electric bus chargers.
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McCarthy said the batteries are expected to have a 6-year useful life and WTA has purchased a 12-year battery warranty which is expected to cover battery replacements for the life of the buses. She added that used batteries will be able to be returned to the bus manufacturer or they could be auctioned off to be used as backup power supplies as WTA has already done with some hybrid bus batteries.
The new buses can be fully charged in under four hours and have a battery capacity of 444 kWh. WTA says their range is expected to be 150 miles while using 2.3 kWh per mile. They can generate additional energy while underway via a regenerative braking system.
The buses seat 36 passengers, with a total capacity of 75. They are built on a low floor platform just like the rest of WTA’s fleet. According to WTA, this allows for safer, faster, and easier boarding for passengers and efficiencies in training for transit operators and fleet mechanics and inventory of parts.
The new all-electric buses are expected to enter service sometime next month.
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