The San Luis Obispo City Council recently approved the addition of two new electric buses.
With two already here and six on the way, two more will bring the city's fleet to 10, putting them in the driver's seat on the way to complying with the Innovative Clean Transit regulation that went into effect in 2019, making transit agencies convert to 100-percent zero-emission fleets.
Rick Casteel has been driving buses with SLO Transit for the last 8 months and found that not only does he enjoy the smoother, quieter electric bus but so do his passengers.
“They like the quietness of it and the cleanliness of it,” he said.
But it’s harder than you might think to introduce an electric bus of that size, let alone a whole fleet.
The San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority Operations Manager Omar McPherson explained there are three unique challenges to creating a zero-emission fleet — the energy used, the cost, and the most recent development: the lack of manufacturing nationwide.
With two large electric vehicle manufacturing companies shutting down in the last six months, including Proterra, the timeline has lengthened considerably for both SLORTA and SLO Transit which each have their own rollout plans for electric public transportation.
“It went from where we were getting buses in 14 to 16 months. Now we're at two years out," McPherson explained.
Another hurdle is that the energy needed to charge and run one bus requires is a considerable amount.
“It takes a football field of solar arrays to actually power one bus for one night,” McPherson said.
The issues are much of the same for both the city and the county but the timeline remains the same for both.
Here is the timeline for zero-emission public transportation:
- By 2026, 25% of replacement buses must be zero-emission
- By 2029, all vehicles purchased must be zero-emission
- By 2040 all all vehicles operated must be zero-emission
“The challenges [are] also an opportunity for us to deal with electrification,” McPherson said.
According to the city, the timeline for all ten buses to be delivered and in their fleet is expected to be the summer of 2026.
