The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) partnered with the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) for a successful award under the 2019 Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission Vehicle Program (Low-No). For this project, CTE is managing and providing technical assistance as MARTA deploys six 40’ New Flyer battery electric buses (BEBs) with 466 kWh battery packs, seven Siemens 150 kW depot chargers, and one 450 kW on-route pantograph charger.
CTE completed the project planning and initiation, and performed route, charge, and rate modeling for MARTA’s 2 and 102 routes to determine the feasibility of the BEBs and charging infrastructure. The results of the modeling were presented to MARTA in November 2020. The objective was to predict bus performance by estimating energy requirements and block achievability for New Flyer BEBs under nominal and strenuous conditions, as well as predict required charging time and energy usage by route and block. CTE found that though depot chargers are recommended for resiliency and service needs, on-route charging would be necessary for the buses to complete service. CTE used this analysis to help MARTA evaluate charging strategies for its vehicles and model electricity costs using Georgia Power rate schedules for the bus depot and on-route charging station. CTE has also supported system safety planning, preliminary hazards analysis, and risk management planning for the project.
After bus delivery in May–July 2021, MARTA began interim operations with all six BEBs rotating into service starting in May 2022. The Hamilton bus garage charger installation and associated construction is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2026. The Laredo bus garage charger installation and associated construction and the Candler Park station construction and on-route charger installation are expected to be completed in May 2026. CTE is performing general project management and reporting services throughout the project and will provide deployment validation including key performance indicator reporting for one year once the charging infrastructure has been installed.
