King County Metro has agreed to buy 40 new battery-electric buses with plans to order 80 more in the coming year, County Executive Dow Constantine announced Thursday.
The articulated buses included in the county’s first order are 60 feet long and will start hitting the streets in the fall of 2021, county leaders told KOMO News. They’re part of the county’s plan to transform King County Metro into a zero-emissions fleet by 2040.
Each of the 60-foot-long articulated buses cost $1.3 million a piece, which is approximately $200,000 more than the 60-foot diesel hybrids that are currently in King County Metro’s fleet, an agency spokeswoman told KOMO News.
The remaining coaches the county plans to buy include 20 60-foot articulated buses and 60 40-foot buses valued at approximately $925,000 each.
It’s a big investment in technology that leaders hope pays off with lower operating costs in the long run.
“Right now diesel fuel is a variable cost, and it fluctuates with the market. Over time, we’re going to continue work with our energy providers to make sure we get the best rates available,” said Rob Gannon, General Manager of King County Metro. “We will also look to efficiencies in the battery itself. And that is the big technology investment that we’re all hoping pays off. The better the batteries get, the more efficient the vehicles will become, and the greater the savings on cost.”
The 60-foot articulated buses can be in service for up to 16 hours without a recharge and travel up to 140 miles, leaders said. The county’s goal with the new buses is to help improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions.
“We would not be here today if we did not push the industry to deliver,” Constantine said during a press conference at King County Metro’s South Training Facility.
The technology is a direct result of car manufacturers that have worked to mass produce lithium-ion batteries, said David Warren. Warren is the Director of Sustainable Transportation for New Flyer of America, Inc., the manufacturer of the new buses.
Transit has been somewhat of a test-bed for other industries, he said. Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York are all incorporating the technology into their fleets, he added.
“So, the battery that goes into a King County Metro bus will be the same technology that will go into a delivery truck or a long-range commercial truck,” Warren said. “And they’re a few years behind where we are in transit but they will absolutely adopt the same technology.”
Metro’s been testing one of the new buses for nearly six months in a variety of weather conditions.
“It came through with flying colors,” Gannon said.
