Are Electric Buses working out in the US?

All electric buses are starting to show up everywhere. Who makes them? Do they hold up as well as regular diesel buses? How far can they go before they need to recharge? And how long does it take to charge them up?
All the answers to these new generations of buses are in this video!

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Video clips used from other YouTube channels

New3 Laval STL new flyer Electric bus

MTD New flyer diesel arctic at UIUC

MTD Hydrogen Bus

MTD All electric

MCI D45 CRT LE

MCI DL 3 Roll by

Van Hool CX45E

MCI J4500 Charge

Van Hool Double Decker TDX 25 E

Chicago City Transit bus recharge

Sources i used to make this video

Sources:
Van Hool Electric buses CX 45E

Van Hool TDX25 E

Bus Motorcoach news Van Hool CX45 E makes 1700 mile trip

MCI J4500E Charge

MCI D45 CRT LE

Prevost Electrification Program

Temsa Ts45 E Bus Motorocoach news

BYD C10 MS

BYD C10 MS specs

[donri]

With solar energy being a real thing, and realizing that this is a mute point in the dark, why couldnt solar panels be equipped on top of the coach, to provide a constant, longer charge (if that were even possible)?

[pauldunecat]

Hybrid seems the best choice for a coach. Less weight with a smaller engine, doesn't need huge batteries, range and winter heat not an issue, and finally and regenerative braking saves on maint.

[BadByte]

Just remember to test the new bus in all weather conditions BEFORE buying a full fleet of them as the city of Bodø found out after swapping out their old city buses for electric city buses. When winter came it turned out their new electric buses lacked sufficient downforce/traction for winter roads… A big oversight when buying fleet worth of equipment for a city in a winter nation… 🤡

[tenblinkers]

Love your channel, totally agree electric buses are not ready for long-haul. That said, you missed a lot of the cost savings in your pros/cons list. Primary among them being maintenance. However much you pay for maintenance and repair staff, parts, lubricants, down time for servicing, etc - cut all that by several times over. EVs are vastly more reliable (almost no moving parts) and require almost no regular servicing for the motor. Tires, suspension, electronics, interior maintenance etc. will obviously be the same. TCO for electric cars pencils out to be far less than their ICE equivalents. I see no reason why it would be different for a bus. Still, until range and recharge time improves, it's a non-starter (see what I did there?) for coach companies for sure.

[geoffroberts]

What goes around comes around as folks say. Remember the trolley buses, Fixed routes, and still a common sight in Europe, many run on tracks, referred to as light rail, They were and still are very popular and yes reliable. Diesel is for the highway..

[SchoolBusTalk]

Thanks for this review. I am currently driving a Bluebird electric Type I conventional school bus. It’s fun to drive, but it is finicky. Range is limited to about 80 miles. IMHO…Electric buses have a role to play doing in town routes but they are not ready to replace the diesel for rural routes or out of town trips.

[donalddodson]

Thank you, James. As a kid I was fascinated by the "trolley buses" in San Francisco. The were on certain fixed routes with a labyrinth of overhead wires to power them. No batteries to replace, no fuel to buy, just grid power.

[eddieflxible]

I can really see these electric motorcoaches to dominate the SF Bay Area on those Tech runs.
In some areas across the country, not so much.

I deliver buses for a manufacturer...and from what I can tell is that diesel is still in demand. I’ve test drive some electric vehicles in different parameters before they are shipped to the customers. The fuel range on an electric vehicle car or bus is all based on ambient temperature. On a nice warm day, a 40ft transit bus will get about 200 range. Turn on the HVAC and other accessories, the range will drop slightly. It drops even more when it’s bitter cold outside. I charged one 40ft bus on a 39 degree day, and on a 100% charge, The range was 110 miles... not good for a transit agency ... because typically a bus will stay out all day long or about 200 miles

IndyGo just recently order new Diesel-hybrid Gilligs with the E-Gen Flex technology. I will have to send u a video of it.

[ariceagaandros]

As a school bus driver myself, electric school buses are catching on quick. Considering that we drive a few hours in the morning and evening, those things can get recharged at the depot after each run. My route is only about 60 miles long in total so an electric bus would be a perfect fit. Of course, we don't show signs of switching over from diesels any time soon.

[FMEverAfter]

Another great video. I've been fortunate which is to say challenged to work on the 24 all electric CRTLE in Lancaster, CA. What a ride and learning experience. One thing to note is you don't want to charge a fleet all at the same time during the highest price per kWh of the day. Our customer figured that out real quick.

[rodrigonogueiramota]

In Brazil there´s a bus line called "Princesa dos Campos" and they´re actually testing eletric buses to travel between cities (Curitiba-Ponta Grossa-Curitiba 120km distant) on a 42 seat bus you can go by yourself actually it´s pretty easy

[claytonbrown]

Wow James! Thanks for explaining the pluses and minuses EV busses, especially the challenges involved in the over-the-road sector WITHOUT the politics and emotion.

[davidleroux]

Hi fellow bus nut! I live in Quebec and last week, our prime minister François Legault announced the government would help Prevost develop an all electric coach and also a conversion kit to transform a diesel coach into an electric one. This conversion kit idea seems interesting. In the newspaper article, the were talking about approx. 1, 2 million CAD for a Prevost all electric. Nothing is known about autonomy, charging time, etc. That being said, winter can be a real challenge for electric vehicles autonomy and charging speed. Can you imagine how much energy it needs to heat a motor coach cabin when it is -20 Celsius or to cool the same cabin in a heat wave in July? Those batteries are better be good…

[fhs]

I can share some data of Beijing transit buses.
A typical citybus: Model BJ6123EVCA-37, 12m/18t/70pax/69kph/150kw, by Foton, manufacture year 2017, fleet:1860, battery from Yinlong, technology: Lithium titanate battery, capacity: 115Kwh, charge time: 30min (Quick charge. Plug x4 chargers at same time), range: ~120km. Price: ~2 million RMB per each bus. These buses used at inner city/suburban lines, (40~60km for a round trip)
A typical suburban bus: Model BJ6127EVCA-6, 12m/18t/80pax/69kph/160kw, by Foton, manufacture year 2019, fleet: 100, battery from 普莱德, technology: Lithium iron phosphate battery. Capacity 250Kwh. Do not support quick charge. Charge time: 3h. Range >200km. Price: unknown. These buses usually used at suburban/long distance lines (200km for a round trip).
BPT has a tragic BEV bus experiments history. Beijing started to test some BEV bus since 2001, and NONE of them survived to beijing buses typical service lifespan of 10 years. One typical tragic example is BK6122EV2, entered service in 2008. Even if BPT has replaced their battery for 2 times. And buying them new battery cost almost the same price of buying a new bus (rumored 1.8 Million RMB per each bus). When they phased out of service in 2014, only 6 out of 40's battery can operate. And what's more joke is that. BK6122EV2 is originally designed to be converted to trolleybus when their battery dies. They knew these buses' battery wont survive for so long. And in 2016, BPT did convert them to battery trolleybuses...
But in 2017, Beijing gov forced BPT to rollout BEV buses. And they partnered with a company provide a niche technology route: Lithium titanate battery. To avoid traditional Lithium battery's downside: performance drop in cold weather, short battery lifespan (charge/discharge cycles). At a cost of only provide 40% capacity compared to traditional Lithium battery's capacity at same weight. So, all new BEV buses since 2017 carry much less passengers than previous BEV buses, and much shorter range. But none of them report died battery.

In a word. Beijing buses has been and is still suffering from BEV's problems. We have 21 years of using BEV buses, and they are still not good enough to replace ICE buses. And BPT still not putting of BEV buses on rural/intercity bus lines. Actually, before 2019, BPT bans using BEV buses on lines that runs on expressways...
PS: BPT never bought any buses from BYD. And BYD had lots of issues in early years.

[michaelrocker]

When I was doing the commuter run thing from Southern Maryland in to DC and back it was a split shift so in this case a battery operated coach would be feasible. Since it was a split AM PM run the electric coaches could be charged overnight or upon return from the AM runs. The company I was working for was under contract to the MTA = Maryland Transportation Authority. They helped offset the price of fuel and the price of buying new coaches. They also ran school buses for the county so they also got a fuel offset for that. Most of their fleet were DL3's with some newer D-4505's. the D's were mainly used for charter runs or as needed for the commuter runs. A typical run from Southern Maryland to NYC would use about 140 gallons round trip with the Allison 500's and about 130 with the ZF 10 speed. There was no need for refueling till they got back to the yard. All that fuel was calculated. A few gallons here and there between the coaches and school buses and one of the owners F-350. As far as a trip to NYC R/T on an electric coach would be a big no go.. You brought up some good points. Just like an electric car the more things you turn on the faster the battery drains. AC, Heat Lights. Entertainment system. This doesn't even include going up and down hills. Is there some sort of degeneration brake that acts like a Jake brake? To many variables.

[jeffherdz]

James, 240 miles on a buses that's electrical. I'm not even breaking a sweat until the first 500 miles of a run.

[SimonEllwood]

Thanks for the video, yes those prices and recharge times are not good. Here in the UK, the driver has to take a 45-minute stop I think every 4 hours (I am not an expert but something like that). When a coach can drive for close to four hours and recharge in 45 minutes then it will be viable for most purposes.

[tiredoldmechanic]

They will need to make buses with replaceable batteries like electric forklifts use. A 10 minute battery replacement would make electric buses much more usable. That would also require the infrastructure to be in place.

[Ferguson]

Everyone is going to electric. I hate it. Cars and trucks and buses. James I had no idea that a all electric motorcoach would be 1 Million. Wow.

[johnwright]

I would not want to blaze the trail with an electric bus. If we could only get the same fuel that powers the U.S.S Enterprise!