DART’s first electric long-distance bus may or may not be the future of local public transport

Electric cars are in vogue. You see them everywhere now, but you probably don’t hear them because they are electric. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) recently took another significant leap towards a greener and presumably quieter future with the addition of its first long-distance electric bus.

Set sail on DART Bus Route 20 along Northwest Highway, the new addition joins seven short-range electric buses already operating on Bus Route 28. The 40-foot Proterra ZX5 Max offers passengers USB ports for charging devices and, according to a press release, release, “regenerative braking that captures energy normally lost as heat and returns it to the batteries.”

The difference in possible mileage between near and far mileage in this case is significant to be clear. According to DART media spokesman Gordon Shuttles, the long-distance bus is about 10 times better than short-haul buses bought in 2018 when its battery is fully charged.

“Let’s talk about increasing the number of technologies,” says Shuttles. “These original buses have a range of 30 miles, as opposed to the new long-distance bus, which has a range of about 300 miles.”

The popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) continues to rise as the Biden administration has expressed its willingness to build a robust national electric vehicle charger network to meet the growth in electric vehicle sales. But DART is not yet convinced that its new electric bus represents the near future for the company.

“The conversations we had included asking, ‘What does the future of fuel look like?'” says Shuttles. “Many years ago we started with diesel and ended up moving to liquefied natural gas (LNG), which we had for a very short time before we switched to compressed natural gas (CNG), which is a low emission fuel, which our fleet is currently operating. Now we’re looking 10, 20 years ahead and wondering what the future will look like, and we think this new bus can teach us that.”

“The conversations we had included asking, ‘What does the future of fuel look like?’ — Gordon Shuttles, DART

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Large electric passenger buses like those DART has are not new, and several US cities have already started using them on their own public transit routes. Texas, Austin, San Antonio, and Fort Worth all have electric buses serving shorter routes. Elsewhere in North America, Portland, Seattle, Denver, and Toronto have made significant investments to add electric buses to their public transit fleets.

Financial factors will certainly be one of the key areas that DART will be scrutinizing over the next year or so, Shuttles said. The long distance electric bus cost $780,000 including the charger, well above the $500,000 cost of the current standard DART bus. Part of the cost was covered by a federal grant that DART used to buy short-range electric buses a few years ago. Since money for an oil change, transmission fluid change, or CNG will not be required, the shock sticker difference between old and new is likely to decrease over time.

Saving money on fuel and oil and traditional car maintenance is a plus, but for DART it’s not just about money. The agency has clients that it must serve conveniently and reliably. Recent events and hot news will also encourage DART to discuss its future with long distance electric buses.

The extreme temperature range of Texas will also be the test of the new e-bus. Can a large series of lithium-ion batteries put together that take only a few minutes to fully charge keep passengers warm in winter and cool in summer? Questions like this mean DART doesn’t yet know what the success or future of long-distance buses in Dallas looks like.

“We have a lot of other questions we’re asking right now,” Shuttles says. “Maybe Proterra won’t be a manufacturer for us in the future, we don’t know. We have to think about the impact of severe winter storms like the last couple of years. We still need to be able to drive our buses even if the network goes down. We have to figure out how to charge the fleet of electric buses if there is no electricity. There are many more questions.”

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