Solution
In partnership with ebusplan, Greenlots and AMMA Transit Planning, our team provided consultative planning and conceptual engineering services for the effort.
Developing a fleet electrification road map of this size required a thoughtful and thorough consideration of a number of variables. The team was tasked with modeling the energy consumption of more than 350 bus routes to determine the capability of all-electric buses to complete each route and then outline the resultant charging needs at two centralized depots.
Planning at the depots encompassed various equipment, space and infrastructure considerations:
- To meet the daily needs of the fleet, we evaluated several commercially available options to find the right fit.
- Electrical power demand associated with the fleet is significant. We assessed current on-site electrical systems, coordinated with Southern California Edison and evaluated the power supply — then applied those learnings to a plan for future infrastructure needs. Part of this was the consideration of how to integrate on- or off-site renewables and battery storage to support the goal of a fully zero-emission fleet.
- Each depot offered a limited amount of real estate — and charging stations and buses take up a lot of space. The layout needed to be precise and tactically optimized to see that every electric bus can charge where it needs to, when it needs to.
While this is a landmark shift for the transit agency, the transition needed to remain nearly imperceptible to the riders who count on Foothill Transit buses every day to get where they need to be. As such, the plan included conceptual construction phasing and budgetary cost estimating, all structured to minimize impact to current operations.
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