The transition to zero emission buses is well underway as public transit fleets work toward ambitious emissions reduction goals and go beyond pilot programs to deploy large numbers of electric vehicles.
With limited data available in the early years of electric bus deployments, pilot projects were often done without advanced fleet planning or sophisticated charge management systems to optimize operations. Small trials and pilots enabled transit agencies to test Battery Electric Buses BEBs) and supporting infrastructure in real-life conditions to answer questions such as, "What range will BEBs achieve on blocks and routes on a ‘normal’ day?” and “How does this success rate change on a cold day in winter?" While these initial pilots are vital and set important foundational knowledge, as agencies scale BEB their deployments, the complexity of managing the operational realities of BEBs becomes more pronounced and pressing.
Early adopters encountered unforeseen challenges new to transit agencies, such as high electricity bills from demand charges, less vehicle range than expected, working with utilities for infrastructure upgrades, longer than expected charge times, and more. While these challenges can be mitigated and overcome for smaller scale pilot projects on a case by case basis, managing larger numbers of electric buses without an advanced planning and charge management system can result in significant cost increases and inefficiencies.
