North County commuters who ride the Clean Air Express to jobs on the South Coast will help eliminate 450 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually each time they ride a new all-electric bus unveiled Friday morning in Buellton.
More than 25 elected and appointed federal, state, county and city officials and representatives of state and local agencies, companies, commissions and committees attended the event on the Avenue of Flags.
Clean Air Express provides transportation for about 7,000 passengers a month from the cities of Solvang, Buellton, Santa Maria and Lompoc and their surrounding unincorporated communities to and from jobs in Goleta and Santa Barbara.
Officials said one of the 17 diesel-fueled charter-style buses operated by Clean Air Express will be replaced by the $850,000 battery-electric intercity commuter bus, cumulatively reducing CO2 emissions by an amount equal to that generated by the electricity use of 80 homes in a year.
“We know that transportation is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States,” said Das Williams, chairman of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments board of directors.
“A switch to cleaner, quieter and smoother public transit options is a switch in the right direction, one that is imperative for our future — for our children and neighbors.”
State Sen. Monique Limón and Congressman Salud Carbajal, center, wield giant scissors to cut a green ribbon officially welcoming the new all-electric bus, parked behind a crowd of local dignitaries, to service in the Clean Air Express fleet of commuter buses Friday morning in Buellton.
Williams said the 45-foot-long bus is an example of the zero-emission vehicle industry’s evolving technology that is changing long-range transportation through improved efficiency that saves energy and benefits the environment.
“If there’s a way out of traffic jams, a way out of congestion, this is the way out,” Williams said, pointing at the bus behind him with his thumb.
SBCAG officials estimate the Clean Air Express eliminates more than 400,000 vehicle miles traveled by commuters in individual cars every month.
“All-electric buses serving long-distance commuters are the way forward to cleaner and healthier transportation options for all Californians,” said state Sen. Monique Limón.
Marjie Kirn, executive director of SBCAG, said only two other transit systems in the United States have been able to introduce all-electric buses to their long-distance commuter fleets, and both of those systems are much larger than Clean Air Express.
Congressman Salud Carbajal said the electric bus “means good public health, clean air for everyone.”
“This vehicle plays an important part in modernizing our transportation infrastructure,” Carbajal said.
As state, county and city elected officials listen, Congressman Salud Carbajal talks about the investments being made in California through the federal infrastructure bill during the unveiling of the new all-electric Clean Air Express bus Friday morning in Buellton.
The new bus has a top speed of 65 mph and a 220-mile range, well more than the longest Clean Air Express round trip of 150 miles, said Lauren Bianchi Klemann, SBCAG’s government affairs and public information manager.
A partnership with Central Coast Community Energy will allow the bus to be recharged in three to four hours using 100% renewable energy at SBCAG’s Transit Facility in Goleta, Klemann said.
SBCAG purchased the $850,000 bus in partnership with Caltrans using $500,000 from Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, with the balance coming from Measure A, the county’ transportation sales tax.
“Critical SB 1 investments like this help connect communities and reduce environmental impacts from transportation,” said Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin. “Caltrans is committed to doing its part to achieve California’s carbon-neutrality goal no later than 2045, and projects like this are an important component of that effort.”
Electric bus by the numbers
Here’s a quick look at the new Clean Air Express bus, built by BYD, that’s powered by two synchronous AC motors fed by iron-phosphate batteries:
45 — Length of coach in feet
53 — Number of passengers
65 — Top speed
200 — Maximum range in miles*
54,013 — Gross weight in pounds
360 — Maximum power in kilowatts
3,000 — Maximum torque in Newton meters**
446 — Battery capacity in kilowatt-hours
150 — Charging capacity in kilowatts
4 — Maximum charging time in hours
12 — Battery warranty in years
450 — Tons of CO2 removed by replacing diesel bus
100 — Percent of renewable energy used for recharging
0 — Emissions produced by bus
*Longest Clean Air Express round trip is 150 miles
**Equivalent to 2,212.6 pound feet
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Originally Appeared Here