The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) partnered with the City of Lawrence (Lawrence) for a successful award under the Federal Transit Administration’s 2022 Low or No Emission Vehicle Program (Low-No). Under this award, Lawrence Transit will replace four internal combustion engine (ICE) buses from its fleet with four zero-emission vehicles, including two Phoenix battery electric buses (BEBs) and two Optimal electric cutaways. The BEBs will eliminate the emissions that would otherwise be generated by ICE buses and be harmful to Lawrence Transit riders, Lawrence residents, and University of Kansas (KU) students and faculty.
This is the third phase of the “Electrify Lawrence Transit” BEB deployment project. The first phase included the procurement and installation of ChargePoint charging equipment and the successful deployment of five GILLIG BEBs that began service at the start of KU’s Fall 2022 semester. The second phase included the procurement and installation of additional ChargePoint charging equipment and the procurement and deployment of two additional 40’ GILLIG BEBs, which were placed into service Q2 2024.
In the Phase 3 project, CTE is continuing to work directly with Lawrence to manage the BEB deployment project and provide technical support and expertise in route modeling and bus and charger equipment procurement processes. The Optimal cutaways are planned to be delivered by the end of 2024, while the Phoenix buses are estimated to be delivered Q3 2025. Currently, the project team is coordinating the charging infrastructure installation to ensure it is in place before the arrival of the Optimals.
