Three Battery Electric Buses Enter Muni Revenue Service
Powered by nine newly installed electric battery charging dispensers, the first of three battery electric buses have entered revenue service, bringing the agency closer to achieving its greater goal of an all-electric fleet and a carbon-neutral San Francisco by 2040, as explained in the SFMTA’s Sustainability and Climate Action Program.
As part of the program, Muni had initially ordered nine battery-electric buses, three each from three manufacturers, New Flyer, BYD USA and Proterra, for an 18-month tryout. As the program evolved, a fourth manufacturer, Nova Bus, was added to the program who would bring in three additional e-buses for the extensive testing. Currently five e-buses have arrived. The rest of seven will be delivered by the end of 2022.
To meet the demand to charge more buses, three more chargers were added to the system making it a total of 12. The three additional chargers are currently in fabrication and anticipated to be delivered in spring 2022. The overall completion of the installation project is expected for summer 2022.
In addition to the battery electric bus chargers, the updated infrastructure has also been constructed including electrical support equipment, which is enclosed within the Electrical Equipment Center directly adjacent to the charging stations.
SFMTA - the Greenest Transit System in North America
As of 2018, 45 percent of San Francisco’s greenhouse gas emissions are generated by the transportation sector which is heavily reliant on carbon intensive fossil fuels. Our reliance on harmful fossil fuels is changing earth’s climate and contributes to extreme weather events, increased forest fire risk and sea level rise.
The SFMTA is a leader in providing safe and sustainable transportation options. The SFMTA’s energy-efficient Muni fleet contributes less than two percent of the sector’s emissions and moves approximately 700,000 every day! Today, the SFMTA operates the greenest transit system of any major city in North America
Electric Bus Pilot Program
Questions remain about whether battery electric buses can handle San Francisco’s heavy transit ridership and hilly routes. Before deploying battery electric buses, they must deliver the same reliability and service as our current hybrid-electric and trolley bus fleet.
In recent years, battery electric bus technology has progressed significantly. To determine if this technology is ready for San Francisco, the SFMTA is implementing this 18-month battery electric bus pilot program.
The three e-buses will be tested on some of our most hilly routes, serving the 9 San Bruno, 22 Fillmore, 29 Sunset and 44 O'Shaughnessy lines. The e-buses will be running on the same line each day to gather data on how they respond to the challenges of revenue service across our unique geographic terrain.
After the evaluation period, the SFMTA will develop its future procurement strategy in conjunction with the SFMTA’s Zero Emission Bus Rollout Plan.
