After attending (Zooming into) two key conferences since I last wrote, I see the electrification of bus fleets to be moving at a good pace, despite the pandemic and its impacts. That is good news! This issue will give high-level takeaways, some resources on diversity/equity/inclusion (DEI), and an updated No Whanels list with potential panelists’ names now connected to their LinkedIn profiles. (The No Whanels concept is that all panels benefit from including at least one person of color.)
Note: the electric bus ecosystem is large and complex, as is the drive for DEI within it. Frankly, I struggle to keep up. My newsletter is far from comprehensive. I suggest you also read things like the Green bus page of Student Transportation News (STN), and pore through the excellent slides and recordings of Center for Transportation and the Environment’s recent conference.
I didn’t see either of those organizations to be acknowledging DEI principles in the content of their conferences — yet (I think that can change!). I respect and recommend engaging with EVNoire and The Greenlining Institute, both of which work on electric mobility, and Center for Equity and Inclusion, which trains organizations to practice DEI.
Some of you attended the Spearheading Diversity in Clean Transportation webinar the other week.This delighted me, and not only because I was a panelist. For the larger group of you that couldn’t make it, I suggest hanging out with the replay soon. Pretend we are having a glass of wine or a beer together and chatting in person (I miss that kind of thing). It’s presented by Electriphi, which does charging management for bus fleets, cares about DEI, and is hiring.
General ZEB (zero emissions bus) highlights
- Key reasons to electrify: air quality, climate and (less obviously) U.S. jobs
- U.S. recently passed the mark of 1,000 public transit ZEB’s
- In a context of 66,000 total public transit buses
- China has 420,000 ZEB’s in operation (that’s not a typo)
- Both Proterra and Lion are expanding from e-bus production into wider heavy-duty markets, i.e. trucks
- Range continues to be a challenge, as from the beginning
- Driver skill is key determinant of range (create regenerative braking)
- “Drivers will make or break your cost per mile”
- So, emphasize driver training in your program early on
- Planning is crucial but difficult, given such fluid, fast-moving technology
- Hydrogen fuel cell electric buses (FCEB’s) generally operate as 1:1 replacement for diesel
- 3,000 FCEB’s operating in the world
- Battery-electric public transit buses usually not a 1:1 replacement for diesel
Electric school bus (ESB) specific highlights
- Electric school buses (ESB’s) are often a 1:1 replacement for diesel
- That relates to their shorter routes and duty-cycles
- Operating well in severe winters as per reports from Minnesota and Michigan (without being garaged or under cover)
- ESB adoption is about eight years behind public transit adoption of ZEBs
- ESB range is improving rapidly from 60 miles in 2016 to 155 miles in 2020
- No hydrogen fuel cell school buses exist (the cost equation is untenable)
- Student transportation has a different culture and environment from public transit
- “Low priority” on the long lists of the busy school district boards that oversee school bus fleets
- One transportation director, Katrina Falk in Indiana, has overcome that via relationship-building and giving Transportation Updates at board meetings
- In that way, Ms. Falk has moved the goal of ESB’s forward with her school board
Transportation Electrification Speakers of Color (No Whanels list)
This list has new names: Dexter Turner, Chris Crockett and Ingrid Fish. I know them; they’re smart, engaging, all-around great! Please tell me if you’d like to be added to this resource list of speakers. See also my (longer) No Manels list of women speakers,
Dexter Turner, OpConnect
Chris Crockett, Nexant (general transportation electrification)
Ingrid Fish, City of Portland, OR (general transportation electrification)
Margarita Parra, Clean Energy Works
Dwight Brashear, South Metro Area Rapid Transit (SMART), Wilsonville OR
Athena Motavvef, Earthjustice
Sandy Naranjo, Mothers Out Front (electric school bus advocacy)
Zoheb Davar, The Mobility House
Gil Rosas, Stockton Unified School District, Stockton, CA
Mary Lunetta, Climate Parents/Sierra Club
Young Park, TriMet, Portland OR
Johana Vicente, Chispa/League of Conservation Voters (electric school bus advocacy)
Malinda Sandhu, Lion Electric
Alison Wiley (she/her/hers)
I am on the ancestral lands of the Multnomah, Chinook and Cowlitz peoples.
Whose land are you on?