Business leaders in transportation and clean energy came together alongside Southern California government officials to celebrate the completion of Antelope Valley Transit Authority’s (AVTA) 100% zero-emission fleet.
Since 2014, AVTA has been converting its diesel transit vehicles to an all-electric fleet. With the final step completed this month, AVTA became the first zero-emission transit agency in North America.
The 87-vehicle fleet now consists of BYD electric buses, New Flyer’s Motor Coach Industries (MCI) coaches and GreenPower microtransit vans.
To keep their fleet charged and running, AVTA has installed Heliox, ABB, WAVE and BYD chargers. It uses The Mobility House’s smart charging and energy management system, ChargePilot, to optimize charging and secure the lowest cost of electricity.
When left unmanaged, the charging of large electric fleets can significantly increase a transit’s operating expenses. To make sure AVTA avoided unnecessary peaks in electricity costs, The Mobility House’s ChargePilot was deployed to manage 12 Dual Port Heliox Flex 180 kW (DC) chargers for the fleet’s newest and final addition – 24 MCI Coaches.
ChargePilot intelligently adjusts the charging performance for each vehicle according to real-time travel schedules as well as the local utility’s time-of-use tariffs and demand charges. Simulations by The Mobility House indicate that optimizing the charging of the 24 MCI coaches with ChargePilot will save approximately $532,000 per year versus unmanaged charging, representing a 67% savings in annual electricity costs.
Additionally, ChargePilot helps AVTA collect data required for low carbon fuel standards (LCFS) credit monetization. Using the charging data collected from ChargePilot, AVTA is able to completely cover the cost of electric fueling and actually generates revenue of $0.15 per mile from LCFS credits from the state of California.
Going forward, The Mobility House will also be able to integrate AVTA’s on-site solar into its smart charging system, ultimately reducing carbon emissions and electricity costs even more.
“The Antelope Valley Transit Authority, together with the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale and Los Angeles County, has shown California and the world how local growth can coexist with clean transportation, low-carbon energy, and new local job opportunities,” states CARB Chair Liane Randolph. “Their accomplishment underscores the fact that committed and visionary communities are key to our clean air and climate solutions as well as a strong California economy.”
“Congratulations, Antelope Valley Transit Authority, for achieving this tremendous milestone and being an example for transit operators across the world that a 100 percent electric transit fleet is possible,” says Greg Hintler, The Mobility House’s U.S. managing director. “We are proud to partner with progressive communities and industry leaders, like AVTA and New Flyer, who rely on our sophisticated intelligent charging strategies to accelerate the future of clean transportation.”
