Authored by Will Handke, Lead Managing AssociateCTE partnered with Laketran for a successful award under the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) 2018 Low or No Emission Vehicle Program (Low-No). The 2018 Low-No award was intended to replace two aging diesel buses with two battery-electric buses (BEBs) and to install two on-route overhead pantograph chargers. Laketran secured additional funding and increased the procurement to a total of ten 35' heavy-duty BEBs and six on-route rapid chargers.

With CTE's support, Laketran completed a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process and selected New Flyer as the bus provider and ABB as the charger manufacturer. CTE assisted in developing the specifications for the RFP and conducted route modeling, which enabled Laketran to evaluate BEB providers on their vehicles' ability to meet the requirements of Laketran's service. During the selection process, CTE provided technical assistance on questions from the agency and from RFP responders to ensure that Laketran's operational needs would be met.

Laketran opted to support the fleet with only on-route charging, which allows buses to charge throughout the day without returning to base for traditional depot charging. This strategy requires careful operational planning to reduce risk and ensure uninterrupted service. To support Laketran on this planning, CTE built comprehensive rate and route models, which allowed Laketran to make key operational decisions and provided them with operating cost estimates. CTE also worked with Laketran to evaluate the benefits of a charge management system.

Laketran's BEBs went into service at the end of 2021. CTE's analyses, covering a year-long study period, revealed the BEBs matched or outperformed their diesel bus counterparts on nearly every key operational metric. Over the study year, a typical Laketran BEB drove 42,732 miles - about 3,000 more miles than the agency's typical diesel buses.Additionally, when compared to a 2021 diesel bus, an average Laketran BEB:

• Delivered 230% better fuel economy
• Notched 18% lower maintenance costs
• Eliminated the equivalent of five and a half passenger cars' worth of annual greenhouse gas emissions