San Antonio transit operator VIA has rolled out its first all-electric bus – a 40-foot Gillig – as it prepares to enhance its fleet with additional clean-fuel vehicles.
VIA already has 500 compressed natural gas (CNG), along with a large CNG refueling station. The eight new electric buses were procured through a federal grant award and delivered in December 2022.
Part of the project included the construction of a charging area for the new buses. The agency recently completed a covered 12-bay docking area that houses four charging stations that are capable of charging two buses each.
VIA is currently testing the new buses and training its staff and operators. The vehicle range is expected to be about 150 miles, with a four-hour charge time.
“The addition of new all-electric buses keeps VIA moving in the right direction with green technologies that are advancing to a point that makes them practical as well as sustainable,” says VIA president and CEO Jeffrey C. Arndt said. “VIA’s CNG fleet conversion delivered up to a 97 percent reduction of harmful emissions from the vehicles they replaced and put us on the road to a cleaner, greener future.”
VIA plans to place two electric Gillig buses into service this summer for testing and data collection, which will help the agency determine how it will deploy the full electric fleet.