Smoothly traveling 1,150 miles, New Flyer has completed 1,800 electric bus passenger rides, and 11 in-service demonstrations in Miami–Dade County, Florida.
I recently enjoyed a ride on the New Flyer XcelsiorÆ Electric Bus, a zero-emissions bus, with the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, which is collaborating with the Sierra Club on demos of future bus investments. This bus is what the world needs now and 100,000+ more! It is comfy and smooth, which makes it perfect for urban bus routes. Our stop in St. Petersburg was after a two-week demonstration, which concluded on January 21, of different service routes throughout Miami–Dade County.
The Sierra Club’s Florida Healthy Air Campaign was active through this, bringing the bus my way (St. Petersburg) before on to the next stop, San Francisco.
Regarding its core demonstration arena, New Flyer writes, “New Flyer provided Miami-Dade Transit performance reports from New Flyer Connect®, a combination of onboard telematics systems used to gauge and manage operational efficiency. Using the Connect system, the New Flyer Xcelsior XE40 battery-electric bus reported up to 23.8 diesel equivalent miles per gallon in energy consumption (equating to 1.6 kWh per mile).”
Miami–Dade Transit is actually larger than all but 14 public transit system in the USA. It’s the largest transit agency in Florida.
“The Xcelsior battery-electric bus features a Siemens electric drive system and proven electric subsystems with electric drive motor technology permitting the bus to cut the energy consumed while driving, and increase the energy recovered during braking,” New Flyer adds. Similar to all the fine-tuned, technologically gifted EVs on the road today, such as the Nissan LEAF, the BMW i3, and Teslas, the New Flyer buses look like fun to drive. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that close of an experience on the tour I took.
“We are very excited by the favorable feedback we received from Miami-Dade County and the community transit riders,” said Paul Soubry, President and Chief Executive Officer of New Flyer. “New Flyer is exceptionally proud of our long history of building best in class buses and the XE40 battery-electric bus is a next natural evolution of our tried and true Xcelsior platform.”
Related:
The New Flyer XcelsiorÆ Electric Bus (Zero Emissions)
Kiira Motors Unveils Solar-Powered Electric Bus In Uganda
Brooklyn–Queens Connection: The Future of NYC Transit
Proterra Buses Headed To University Of Montana
Images © Cynthia Shahan (All Rights Reserved)
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