The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) is partnering with the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority (ATL), Atkins, Motor Coach Industries (MCI), and Heliox on a battery electric bus deployment project supported by a $5.47M grant from the 2021 Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission Vehicle Program (Low-No). CTE is working with ATL to deploy 10 MCI battery electric coach buses and 10 Heliox 150 kW chargers to serve its Xpress commuter bus system in the Atlanta metro area. This project is also supported by a make-ready grant from Georgia Power, which will install the required electrical infrastructure to support the 10 vehicles and enable future expansion for up to 20 vehicles in a later phase.
The two parties began working together in 2018 when CTE completed a needs assessment to determine the vehicle performance, energy, and charging requirements for a fleet of up to 20 electric coaches based at ATL’s South Ops facility. CTE also researched and compiled information on vehicles and chargers available at the time that would meet ATL’s requirements and worked with Atkins to develop preliminary conceptual infrastructure layouts that would serve ATL’s needs and allow for future expansion.
CTE has provided route, charge, and rate modeling to determine performance, energy, and charging requirements. CTE assisted ATL with the final bus and charger specifications. CTE managed communication and scheduling oversight for the construction phase that kicked off in January 2023. Since January 2023, CTE has provided project management support during the construction phase, which concluded in May 2024. Bus delivery began in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in November 2024. CTE is currently in the process of scheduling on-site validation testing to analyze the performance of the first bus and update route models and operating and charging recommendations, if necessary. Key performance indicator reports are set to start in Quarter 1 of 2025.
