The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) is a non-profit U.S. organization which, over the last 30 years, has been helping to encourage the uptake of zero-emission vehicles across the medium- and heavy-duty U.S. transportation sector.
Zero-emission vehicle uptake in the U.S. in the context of electric passenger cars has already seen impressive growth, but when it comes to public transit, particularly buses, there’s still a large task ahead for transit operators to make their fleets cleaner. The transition to zero emissions often takes place over decades and requires the analysis of every aspect of transit operations, from the remaining life of existing vehicles, to potential funding programs that the operator could be eligible for – such as the U.S. Federal Transit Administration’s Low- or No-Emission Vehicle program.
Other additional issues that need to be addressed in the transition include range limitations of battery electric buses, required charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure, investment costs, maintenance, total costs of ownership, and more. All these points need to be addressed with proper strategies for fleets to make their zero-emission bus transition a successful one.
To assist operators with this journey, CTE recently published an in-depth report that covers these factors and more, called the Zero-Emission Bus Transition Planning Guidebook, funded by the Federal Transit Administration through the National Transit Institute.
This 100-plus page handbook offers a definitive guide for bus operators and the engineering firms that support them, to create a definitive, long-term roadmap for making the switch to battery electric and fuel cell electric buses.
The guidebook builds on CTE’s extensive experience within the zero-emission sector, being based on the knowledge gathered from nearly 80 transition planning projects that CTE has delivered, along with the 2,000 zero-emission vehicles it has helped to deploy across over 250 operators.
Niki Rinaldi El-Abd, Senior Managing Consultant at CTE, commented on the guidebook’s importance in the transition:
“This Guidebook is intended to act as a reference for any fleet operator interested in creating a strategy for transitioning their fleet to zero-emission technologies.
It walks readers through the entire process of developing their ZEB Transition Plan and empowers them to take on the often-daunting task of developing a strategy to overcome range restrictions, optimize operational considerations, and understand the costs associated with transitioning their fleet.”
Dan Raudebaugh, Executive Director of CTE, added:
This guidebook is a culmination of CTE’s extensive experience in supporting the transition to zero-emission buses.
We are confident that this resource will be a valuable tool for public transit agencies and industry service providers as they work to transition to cleaner, more sustainable fleets.”
CTE’s Zero-Emission Bus Transition Planning Guidebook can be downloaded free of charge from its website, giving transit operators a clear guide on how to structure their zero-emission bus transition. The report is also of use on a more general level, providing valuable insights into the zero-emission technologies currently available for fleet operators of all vehicle types.
