The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) partnered with SolTrans for a successful award under the Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission Vehicle Program (Low-No). CTE is working with Solano County Transit (SolTrans) to deploy fourteen (14) battery electric buses (BEBs). The award also included funding for supporting charging infrastructure in the form of ten (10) plug-in chargers at the depot and three (3) on-route inductive chargers. Leveraging the successful deployment of the nation’s first zero-emission transit fleet in Seneca, South Carolina, this project aims to replace aging diesel-electric hybrid buses serving the southern Solano County cities of Vallejo and Benicia. SolTrans’ goal is to transition to a 100% zero-emission fleet. SolTrans has already completed the deployment of five BYD BEBs, which serve their school day routes, and charge infrastructure to support the buses. The agency owns one (1) surface-mounted and two (2) wall-mounted plug-in chargers. Inductive charging infrastructure was also installed, commissioned, and in service at Curtola Park as of 2022.
CTE will support SolTrans with technical advisory services throughout the project to ensure an understanding of the differences in technology and the best practices for deploying and operating zero-emission buses. CTE will assist in bus and route analysis, charging profiles, and rate modeling to inform operational decisions. Following the delivery of the buses, CTE will validate the performance of the buses against specifications and/or modeling results. Once the buses are placed in revenue service, CTE will collect operational data to ensure the buses are performing as expected. CTE will also assess energy savings, cost savings, and emissions reductions resulting from the deployment.
