The City of Las Cruces RoadRUNNER Transit (RR) was awarded funding through the Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission Program (Low-No) for the procurement of five 35’ battery electric buses (BEBs) and supporting charging infrastructure. The agency contracted the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) to provide technical consulting services for the acquisition and deployment of the BEBs and chargers.
CTE performed a preliminary modeling exercise using RR route data and a generic BEB model and determined none of RR’s existing blocks would be feasible with a 35’ BEB. CTE provided RR with an estimated expected range under different conditions for each route modeled. RR reconfigured the blocks to feasible lengths that were used in later analyses. CTE also helped the City of Las Cruces build a case for an electric vehicle (EV) fleet rate. CTE compared the charging costs associated with the general service rate (RR’s current rate) and a proposed EV rate to show the cost savings with an EV rate. The City Attorney of Las Cruces used this analysis to negotiate an EV rate with the utility for RR.
CTE helped RR develop a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Las Cruces’ BEB procurement based on the American Public Transportation Association White Book. CTE worked with the agency to tailor the framework, specifically the general conditions, special provisions, technical specifications, warranty requirements, and quality assurance chapters, to meet the specific requirements of a BEB. CTE helped ensure that the specifications would result in a bus that met or exceeded the agency’s expectations for performance and range while assuring RR would be protected if the buses did not meet the agency’s needs. CTE also assisted RR in securing the approval of the RFP for release by the City of Las Cruces. CTE supported RR and the City of Las Cruces in the proposal evaluation process; CTE developed scoring aids and prepared a technical evaluation presentation for the city’s Selection Advisory Committee. The technical evaluation served to verify the technical proposals put forth by the original equipment manufacturers and to provide an impartial comparison between proposals.
CTE is currently supporting RR through the bus deployment process. The buses entered production in September 2022 and delivery occurred in July 2023. CTE helped facilitate and conduct inspections throughout the build process, which resulted in action being taken by the manufacturer to resolve defects. Although the buses and chargers were delivered in 2023, the charger deployment was delayed by the state inspector until August 2024. Once the buses could charge on-site, CTE visited Las Cruces to conduct validation testing in August 2024. CTE is currently tracking vehicle performance to provide monthly key performance indicator reports to RR. When data collection is complete, CTE will issue a final report summarizing project details.
