A plus for electric buses: ‘They smell better.’ Pierce Transit gets big grant to buy more

Imagine an electric-powered city bus driving over a phone charging pad and getting fully juiced within minutes — no cords needed. Science fiction? No. It’s coming to the Tacoma Community College transit center in a few years.

Yes, the charging pad is going to be much larger than your phone’s. But, the technology is the same.

It’s all part of the evolution of fossil-fueled buses giving ground to electric versions at Pierce Transit . That process took a leap forward Tuesday when the agency learned it was the recipient of a $14.8 million federal grant allowing it to purchase four new electric buses and build a charging station — the old timey kind with cords and plugs — for 30 buses.

“This puts us in a position that we can continue to move forward with our plan to electrify this fleet,” said Pierce Transit’s chief planning officer, Ryan Wheaton.

The new buses will add to the already existing fleet of nine with three others on order. The goal, Pierce Transit says, is to have 20 percent of its fleet electric by 2030 and fully electric by 2042.

A group of dignitaries and Pierce Transit employees gathered Thursday to celebrate the Federal Transit Administration grant . Speakers noted that while electric buses might look the same to riders and passersby, they don’t operate, sound or smell the same.

“They’re quieter, they’re more pleasant as they zoom by my home in downtown Tacoma,” said Pierce Transit board commissioner and Pierce Council member Ryan Mello. “They smell better.”

“This is a huge award,” said Kirk Hovenkotter, executive director of transportation advocacy group Transportation Choices. “We know that Pierce County is a fast-growing county and Pierce County residents are hungry for more transit.”

Inside an electric bus

The other buses in Pierce Transit’s fleet run on natural gas or are diesel-electric hybrids. The all-electric buses are quieter and have no emissions, said Nathan Groh, Pierce Transit’s zero emissions fleet coordinator. That makes them nicer for riders, residents who live on bus lines and dog walkers.

The electric buses are the pride of the Pierce Transit fleet and kept in like-new condition, he said. But they look the same as their fossil-fueled cousins.

“We wanted to make sure that the riders still have the same level of comfort and the same level of familiarity,” he said.

The buses can travel 110 miles in the winter and 150 miles in the summer on a full charge, Groh said. That will go up as newer buses come with larger batteries.

Charging

Electric vehicle charging comes at various levels and charging rates can vary within those levels The kind Pierce Transit uses can charge a 40-foot-long bus in three hours. The buses have a 444-kilowatt hour battery. By comparison, a Tesla model S has a 100 kilowatt hour battery.

Newer buses, Groh said, will have up to 600 kilowatt hour storage capacity.

The new charging gantry the $14.8 million grant is funding will charge 30 buses simultaneously.

When all the buses currently in the funding/purchasing pipeline are operating, 7-10 percent of Pierce Transit’s fleet will be fully electric.

Going wireless

Pierce Transit has applied for a grant from the Puget Sound Regional Council that, if awarded, would bring inductive bus charging to its fleet.

“It allows us to put all the charging infrastructure in the ground so that our bus operators can simply drive over a charging pad,” Groh said. A receiver mounted under the bus soaks up the electricity and charges its batteries.

The process is safe.

“It’s just a larger version of what your (cell) phone uses,” he said.

Drivers will be able to charge their buses while waiting for passengers.

“They don’t need to step out of the coach,” Groh said. “They don’t need to plug any anything in. Just hit a button on the screen, and they’re charging.”

The target date for TCC’s system is 2028. Funding is also being pursued for inductive chargers at the Lakewood Transit Center.