New Flyer receives two new e-bus orders from California

New Flyer announced two new orders from California. San Diego will see twelve electric buses going into service while Culver City ordered six e-buses from the NFI subsidiary.

First to the larger order through the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS). The operator has awarded New Flyer a contract for 12 battery-electric Xcelsior CHARGE buses measuring 18 metres. The e-buses provide up to 525kWh of power and 250 miles of range on a single charge.

The electric bus order follows the 2020 order of 26 New Flyer CNG buses and is supported by Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds. MTS launched its zero-emissions bus pilot program in 2019 and, last year set a plan in motion to convert its entire bus fleet to zero-emission by 2040.

“In the past 30 years, NFI has delivered over 600 buses to MTS. It was one of the first transit agencies in the US to move to a compressed natural gas bus fleet and is a pioneer in sustainable mobility,” said Paul Soubry, President and Chief Executive Officer, NFI. He added, the company was pleased to continue supporting MTS as it drives towards California’s Innovative Clean Transit goal of a 100% zero-emission fleet by 2040.

Culver City

In Culver City, a small town surrounded by Los Angeles and mostly known for its film studios like MGM, the transportation department Culver CityBus opted for six battery-electric Xcelsior CHARGE buses. While of the same type as in San Diego, the Culver City EVs measure about 12 metres.

As in San Diego, NFI has a longstanding relationship with Culver City. “Since 1998, NFI has delivered nearly 100 buses to Culver CityBus,” CEO Soubry pointed out.

The town had also experimented with CNG buses. However, “With this next evolution to cleaner, quieter zero-emission buses, Culver CityBus is affirming its commitment to fully electrifying our fleet by 2028,” said Rolando Cruz, Culver City Chief Transportation Officer. 2028 will see the company turn 100 years old. It is unclear from the announcement how many zero-emission buses Culver CityBus is running already or how many more need to be replaced.

newflyer.com (San Diego), newflyer.com (Culver City)