New York City Transit (NYCT), part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), has awarded New Flyer of America Inc. a contract for 15 low-floor 60-foot Xcelsior CHARGE battery-electric, zero-emission, heavy-duty transit buses, or a total of 30 equivalent units.
The order supports NYCT’s efforts to develop a cleaner public transportation footprint, which focuses on building greater environmental sustainability, reducing emissions and modernizing the MTA’s bus fleet, says New Flyer. Each bus will leverage New Flyer’s CONNECT 360 business analytics and reporting tool to optimize performance and operations.
“We’re proud to be able to provide NYCT with additional battery-electric transit buses built on the exact-same Xcelsior platform as the clean-diesel, natural gas and diesel-electric hybrid buses currently in service in its active fleet,” says Chris Stoddart, president of New Flyer. “Across NFI Group, we’ve delivered more than 2,500 buses to NYCT, with over 1,100 MCI coaches and 1,400 New Flyer transit buses connecting New York City and its surrounding boroughs and communities.”
The 60-foot New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE buses feature long-range, heavy-duty lithium-ion batteries. New Flyer says its batteries, designed for the rigorous transit demands of New York City, use U.S.-made battery technology and manufacturing from XALT Energy.
As part of the award, New Flyer is also providing 16 Siemens 150 kW direct-current interoperable chargers, with installation, testing and commissioning to be performed by the recently announced New Flyer Infrastructure Solutions.
What type of renewable energy will MTA purchase for the “zero-emission” buses?