Electrify America To Buy $11 Million In Electric Buses For New UC Davis-Sacramento Bus Route
Source: Sacramento Business Journal, Emily Hamann
Photo: Twelve new Proterra electric buses, similar to the one shown here, will service a new bus route between UC Davis and the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. (DENNIS MCCOY | SACRAMENTO BUSINESS JOURNAL)
A new bus line set to launch this spring will connect Davis and Sacramento, and signals the completion of a program that has brought more than $40 million in electric vehicle infrastructure and services to the region.
The Sacramento Regional Transit District and the Yolo County Transportation District will jointly operate the new bus route, which will run on weekdays approximately every 20 minutes between the University of California Davis campus and UC Davis Medical Center. This bus route, called the Causeway Connection, will include stops in Davis and downtown Sacramento and will replace a private shuttle service currently running between the two endpoints.
“This new bus service will help us reach our goal of achieving carbon neutrality while strengthening the link between our city and the major research institution in our region,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg in a statement. “This collaboration is vital as we work together on projects like Aggie Square, the new research campus in Sacramento where we hope to create thousands of jobs.”
To service the route, the company Electrify America is purchasing 12 new all-electric Proterra E2 Catalyst buses, which are built in Southern California.
The 12 buses will cost from $11 million to $13 million, but Electrify America could get up to $2 million of that back from a state rebate program.
This investment, in addition to three more $300,000 shuttles to replace fuel-burning vehicles in SacRT’s Franklin-South Sacramento SmaRT Ride service area, will be Electrify America’s final investment in Sacramento.
In 2017, Sacramento was picked as the first city in Electrify America’s Green City project.
“Sacramento didn’t have a lot of EV mobility programs when we did our research,” said Will Berry, senior manager for the Green City program in Sacramento. Its size made it a good candidate for the program, as did the city’s willingness to participate, he said.
“We couldn’t do it without the great partners that we have had with the city of Sacramento,” Berry said. “They’ve shown a lot of leadership and they deserve high praise.”
Electrify America is a subsidiary of Volkswagen, and was formed in the aftermath of the German car manufacturer’s emissions cheating scandal. As part of a court settlement, Volkswagen announced plans to invest $2 billion in U.S. zero-emissions vehicle infrastructure, including $800 million earmarked for California.
The Green City initiative was part of the first phase of that plan. The pilot included three main programs. The first program included a $15 million to $18 million investment to help launch two car-sharing programs in Sacramento. Electrify America paid for the 260 electric cars that Gig Car Share deployed in Sacramento earlier this year.
“We’re delighted with the results,” Berry said. “Just looking at Gig this past quarter, they drove over 300,000 miles.”
Electrify America has also paid for electric cars and charging stations for the Envoy car sharing platform to operate at more than 20 apartment complexes in the city. The Envoy service provides two cars at each complex available to residents, with a focus mostly in low-income areas.
Electrify America has also built 12 electric car charging stations throughout Sacramento, including at Sacramento International Airport, with the 13th and final one still being installed.
Berry said they are ultra-fast charging stations that have been built to anticipate the future technology of electric cars.
“We’re really excited to be able to make these services available here in Sacramento,” he said. “We think it’s going to be a game-changer for the city.”
Berry said the company will take some of the models developed in Sacramento and use them to implement new investments in the next Green City. Berry said that next city has yet to be determined.