Study touts use of all-electric buses
AVTA fleet is only one in the country
LANCASTER — Had every transit agency in the nation switched to an all-electric fleet like the Antelope Valley Transit Authority did, the estimated environmental impact would have dramatically reduced harmful pollutants and saved millions of dollars, according to an analysis.
AV Transit Authority’s zero-emission fleet is the first all-electric local bus fleet in the nation. The battery-electric buses passed the five million service miles mark on May 7. That represents a carbon footprint reduction of more than 30 million pounds of CO₂ and 72,500 pounds of particulate matter.
AVTA’s Board of Directors wanted to know: If the AVTA’s battery-electric buses can help improve the Antelope Valley’s air, what would the impact be if all transit companies nationwide went electric?
AVTA Maintenance Compliance Manager Cecil Foust calculated the impact using fleet estimates from data reported by the Federal Transit Administration’s National Transit Database, which records the financial, operating and asset condition of transit systems helping to keep track of the industry and provide public information and statistic
Foust presented his findings at the AVTA Board of Directors’ June 22 meeting.
He used 2019 data and analyzed heavy duty buses over 30 feet long. Out of an estimated 71,000 buses, 116 were battery electric. Of those, 32 were operated by AVTA at the time. Another 51,472 buses were diesel; 14,323 were compressed natural gas/ liquefied nat
ural gas, and 5,080 were other types of buses. More than 360 million gallons of diesel was consumed in 2019, and more than 133.7 million gallons of compressed natural gas/ liquefied natural gas was consumed.
“Those two lines of buses logged over 1.8 billion miles,” Foust said.
Foust calculated his estimates based on the AVTA’s fleet.
The estimated fuel cost was 75 cents per mile for diesel, 74 cents per mile for CNG/ LNG, and 42 cents per mile for electric. The estimated fuel cost savings to go from diesel to electric would have been more than $476.6 million, and more than $128.4 million for CNG/LNG, or a combined total savings of more than $604 million.
Foust also calculated a “just for fun” scenario using fuel credits equivalent to the AVTA’s results.
”If they used fuel credits, it would have created a surplus of $552 million,” he said.
Foust estimated the environmental impact of a nationwide electric fleet would have avoided more than 12.08 billion pounds of CO₂, 378,006 pounds of methane, 62,201 pounds of nitrogen oxide, and more than 34.5 million pounds of particulate matter 2.5, or PM 2.5.
PM 2.5 are fine inhalable particles that measure about 2.5 micrometers or smaller in diameter, or about one-thirtieth the width of a single human hair.
“This type of particulate poses the greatest health risk and is still emitted any time we use fossil fuel in any way,” Foust said.
The fine particles can be carried over long distances by wind and settle on ground or water. Depending on their composition they can make lakes and streams acidic, change the nutrient balance in coastal waters and large river basins, deplete nutrients in the soil, damage sensitive forests and farm crops, and contribute to acid rain, Foust said.
The PM 2.5 fine particles are the main cause of haze in many parts of the United States. They also contribute to premature death in people with heart or lung disease, decreased lung function and nonfatal heart attacks.
In addition, a study released June 15 by researchers with the University of California, Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health found that US counties with higher exposures to poor air quality, historically, saw higher county-level COVID-19 mortality rates in 2020, with a 7.6% increase in COVID-19 risk with a one-unit increase of PM 2.5.
AVTA Chairman Marvin Crist also sits on the Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District Board of Directors with AVTA Director Palmdale Mayor Steve Hofbauer.
“Our area is the largest impact in the entire county from the 2.5 as far as asthma and heart and lung conditions,” Crist said. “It’s one of the reasons that we’re doing everything. But it’s not only good for the environment; it’s good economically. That’s the whole thing; we can do both.”
Hofbauer added most of the pollution that come to the Antelope Valley is not being generated here.
“It’s coming from adjacent areas and from transient traffic,” Hofbauer said.
Crist agreed, saying most of the air pollution in the Antelope Valley comes from the Los Angeles City basin and the San Joaquin Valley.