Buses
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A new vision for in-wheel motors aims to capture some of the commercial-vehicle market and includes a 360-degree wheel-pivot design.
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Mack plans to send electric trucks to the garbage dump
The New York municipal fleet is testing all-electric Mack trucks for short stop-and-go routes—exactly where diesel trucks are least efficient.
Eric C. Evarts -
Hyundai rides on top with new double-decker electric bus
London has begun converting its iconic double-decker buses to electric models made by China's BYD, and now Hyundai plans to jump into the fray with a new bus that can carry 70 passengers
Eric C. Evarts -
New York to add solar to transportation hubs
Updated to correct the total power output expected from the MTA rooftop project. Electric cars and public transportation go together in more ways than one. In the latest example, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to add solar panels to the rooftops of its rail yards and bus...
Eric C. Evarts -
Volvo reuses bus batteries for solar storage
As solar installations ramp up and electric vehicles have been on the market for a few years, automakers are starting to look for ways to get more life out of old electric-car batteries, repurposing them for stationary storage. And if you're going to use vehicle old batteries for storage, you might...
Eric C. Evarts -
California to transition to 100 percent electric buses by 2040
California adopted a plan to convert all city buses in the state to electric power by 2040, and hopes to beat that deadline by five years. In terms of cleaning up air quality and improving health, buses can deliver a lot quicker bang for the buck than electric cars. The California Air Resources...
Eric C. Evarts -
Densely populated cities should consider switching to all-electric truck and bus fleets, elected officials and business leaders agreed this week at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco. The political and manufacturing leaders joined in the "Global Commercial Vehicle Drive to Zero" pledge to focus on electrifying commonly used commercial vehicles including city buses, and heavy and light-duty trucks. The pledge aims to make electric trucks and buses commercially successful by 2025 and widely used by 2040 in the targeted areas. READ THIS: One third of new transit buses will be...
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LA gets first double-decker electric city bus
When thinking of Los Angeles, clean air and double-decker buses aren't the first things that come to mind. Yet the city of angels will put the first all-electric double-decker bus into service later this year on the Foothill Transit's Silver Line route (or Silver Streak route, depending on which...
Eric C. Evarts -
How autonomous vehicles will compound electric-car benefits
A lot of ink has been spilled over self-driving cars lately—whether they'll work, how they work, and the potential for accidents. What hasn't been discussed as much is how autonomous vehicles could help the environment. Self-driving vehicles go hand-in-hand with electrification, said Raphael...
Eric C. Evarts -
ChargePoint invests in commercial charging for buses, delivery vans, taxis
After opposing the settlement over diesel emissions cheating that led VW to spend $2 billion building out a nationwide network of fast chargers, and suing one of Electrify America's suppliers for patent infringement, ChargePoint, the last of the original charging-network providers for electric...
Eric C. Evarts -
California OKs more than half a billion dollars to clean up freight trucks, trains, buses
California is using the growing sums of money it receives from its emission cap-and-trade auction for good, including to tackle up some of the state's most egregious transportation polluters. In mid-December, California announced it would invest $663 million in a plan to clean up particularly dirty...
Mark Stevenson -
Shenzhen now uses only electric buses: 16,500 of them
Over the last few years, the Chinese government has begun to push electric vehicles with all its might. In addition to incentivizing the purchase of electric vehicles, the central government has recently banned the sale of some 553 fossil-fuel passenger cars in the country. But when it comes to...
Mark Stevenson -
The mayors of 12 major cities from around the world have taken a landmark step to increase the use of zero-emission public transportation late last month. Mayors of London, Paris, Los Angeles, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Quito, Vancouver, Mexico City, Milan, Seattle, Auckland, and Cape Town all signed the C40 Fossil-Fuel-Free Streets Declaration, which pledges that they will add only fully electric buses to their cities' public transportation from 2025. Although electric buses are the largest part of the agreement, the mayors also agreed to other measures to reduce carbon output in their...
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Canada electric-car news: EV Awards, surging Solo sales, electric-bus boom
Coming in mid-October, Canadian Thanksgiving roughly coincides with the return of ice hockey. This year, the country’s plug-in electric vehicle fans have their own reasons for giving thanks—and not just because the National Hockey League followed Tesla’s lead and expanded into...
Matthew Klippenstein -
VW plans for electric trucks and buses, starting production next year
Volkswagen Group has now detailed its aggressive electrification timeline for every part of its vehicle operations, including heavy trucks, setting lofty goals for zero-emission vehicles in the future. While Volkswagen works on the passenger car side of things, VW Group's commercial-vehicle...
Sean Szymkowski -
Los Angeles Metro orders 100 electric buses
As part of its bid to go green, America's second-largest bus system has placed an order for up to 100 New Flyer Xcelsior Charge all-electric buses. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) has ordered 35 buses and has the option to purchase an additional 65. DON'T...
Andrew Ganz -
How did Proterra get an electric bus to cover 1,100 miles on a charge? A bigger battery, of course
The laws of physics tend to be immutable, at least until you get into esoteric disciplines like quantum science. In the case of electric vehicles, one law provides that higher energy capacity in a battery allows a vehicle to travel further. That's the principle electric-bus maker Proterra has used...
John Voelcker -
CA legislators propose $1 billion to remove dirtiest diesel trucks
The state of California has officially launched its legislative push for stricter heavy-duty truck and bus emission regulations. Following calls for the state to use its recently-extended carbon cap-and-trade program to fund updates to fleets of semi trucks and other commercial vehicles, four state...
Sean Szymkowski -
You can't buy one at your local car dealer, but electric transit buses have a significant role to play in reducing vehicular emissions and expanding the spread of electric-vehicle technology. Two companies have a majority of the U.S. market for electric buses, which is growing quickly if perhaps more quietly than that for electric cars. The U.S. company Proterra has 60 percent of the market for such vehicles, and now it has a new backer. DON'T MISS: One third of new transit buses will be electric in 2020, all by 2030: Proterra CEO BMW i Ventures, the venture-investment arm of German luxury...
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One third of new transit buses will be electric in 2020, all by 2030: Proterra CEO
While electric cars continue to establish a beachhead in the consumer market, electric buses are making quick inroads with U.S. city transit authorities. Several companies already manufacture electric buses, which now operate in several cities around the country. But the CEO of electric-bus maker...
Stephen Edelstein -
Update: Chinese elevated bus now abandoned, blocking road traffic
The Chinese press express skepticism over the Transit Elevated Bus.
Stephen Edelstein -
Next Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell to have 30 percent more range
Hyundai is expected to unveil its next fuel-cell vehicle in 2018.
Stephen Edelstein -
Toyota to launch fuel-cell buses next year for Olympics
Toyota will deliver its first hydrogen fuel-cell buses next year.
Stephen Edelstein -
Who makes electric buses? BYD, Mercedes, Proterra...and Tesla says it will
Electric buses are on the rise.
Stephen Edelstein