California clears road for switch to electric bus fleets

California is taking the lead in the United States in cutting greenhouse gas emissions by mandating public transit agencies to switch to 100 percent zero-emission bus fleets by 2040.

The California Air Resources Board (or CARB), the state’s clean air agency, last week announced a phased-in schedule from 2023 to 2029, by which date agencies will no longer be allowed to buy buses that run on diesel or gasoline.

The transition will mean a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 19 million metric tons from 2020 to 2050 — the equivalent of taking 4 million cars off the road, according to the CARB.

Despite opposition from the natural gas industry and concerns over the performance of electric buses, Stanley Young, CARB spokesman, told China Daily that they didn’t anticipate challenges.

“The regulation was adopted by the California Air Resources Board, after extensive consultation by staff with the transit agencies of the state,” he said on Monday.

California has 200 public transit agencies which operate about 12,000 buses statewide. CARB expects rapid deployment of electric buses in the coming years — from the current 153 electric buses to 1,000 by 2020.

Eight of the 10 largest transit agencies in the state have already operated zero-emission buses, including battery-powered and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, according to the agency.

Some transit agencies have made their own schedules, even ahead of the state’s requirement.

Last year, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted to shift its entire 2,200-bus fleet to zero-emission by 2030. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency announced in May to only purchase all-electric buses starting in 2025 in order to have an all-electric bus fleet by 2035.

Under the new regulation, the transit agencies will consider new facilities to charge the fleet and develop infrastructure to charge vehicles in service or on the street as well as train workforce. They are required to submit rollout plans by 2020 for large agencies and 2030 for small agencies.

California also is home to some key players in the electric bus industry, such as Chinese automaker BYD and Proterra, a startup which recently secured a $155 million investment.

BYD, which has a factory in Lancaster, California, has been aggressively marketing their electric buses. In California, the company has delivered 79 electric buses to transit authorities with another 122 orders on the way. It currently has 19 public transit customers in the state.

“Our Lancaster facility has the capacity to produce 1,500 buses and we have partnered with Generate Capital to make a leasing program available to accelerate this transition,” said Stella Li, president of BYD Motors.