The Regional Transport Association (RTA) is rolling out two fully electric buses.
"We're just finishing the training right now and then we are going to put those in service on Monday," said Geoff Straw, RTA executive director.
Straw says the team at RTA used grant funding to purchase the buses.
"There's no direct tax money from this area. We're not asking for any additional fares or fund raising to try to do this," Straw said.
But receiving the buses was a slower process than originally anticipated.
"The supply chain is really an issue for us. It's taken, like I said, about two years for us to get a battery electric bus," according to Straw.
Some riders in San Luis Obispo wonder how a battery can power an entire bus and make it through the entire route.
"As far as getting on a bus and expecting it to last eight or nine hours, and if it doesn't, what're we going to do?" questioned bus user Shawn Mcfarland.
Straw says the buses will only be assigned to routes where they are confident the battery will last.
The two buses rolling out will start on route 12, which is relatively flat.
"If we went 100% electric today, we'd have trouble getting over the grade," Straw said, "so, we're going to keep using diesel on those routes until we can prove that it works. We are going to do this incrementally and do it in a really measured way."
As for charging the bus, Straw says they use the grid because RTA doesn't have enough space for all the solar panels needed to charge the battery.
They’re powered by a 686-kilowatt hour battery, which is almost 10 times the power of a Tesla battery.
Straw says the shift to electric buses should only have a positive impact on riders.
"I live in Atascadero and I take the bus every day for school," said bus user Juliana Hernandez.
She says that the electric buses won't really impact her commute, but believes it will be better for the environment.
"We have a mandate from the California Air Resources Board to transition to 100% emission free by 2040," Shaw said, adding that getting an early start on the requirement will allow RTA to roll out the buses more effectively and after testing.
Straw says he expects RTA will have 14 fully electric buses by 2027.
