“New Flyer is proud to deliver safe, reliable, zero-emission transit to the community of Salt Lake City and the University of Utah,” said Wayne Joseph, President, New Flyer of America. “We commend UTA as an industry leader in developing and providing mobility solutions for its communities, and through deploying our Xcelsior CHARGE buses, also improving transit sustainability while improving air quality and conserving natural resources”. “The Utah Transit Authority is looking forward to putting these five New Flyer battery-electric buses into service in our community,” said Steve Meyer, Interim Executive Director of UTA. “Air quality is a major concern in our service area and a top priority for UTA. These zero-emission buses will aid UTA in its efforts to improve our air quality throughout the year, and be a responsible steward of our precious natural resources.”
5 New Flyer Xcelsior Charge electric buses for Utah Transit Authority
Utah Transit Authority has awarded New Flyer a contract for 5 forty foot (12 meters) electric buses Xcensior Charge. The award includes the zero-emission buses and charging equipment, and was supported by Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds through the Low or No Emission (“Low-No”) Vehicle Deployment Program (5.4 million dollars, according to a press release […]
Utah Transit Authority has awarded New Flyer a contract for 5 forty foot (12 meters) electric buses Xcensior Charge. The award includes the zero-emission buses and charging equipment, and was supported by Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds through the Low or No Emission (“Low-No”) Vehicle Deployment Program (5.4 million dollars, according to a press release published by UTA in 2016, when the project begun). In 2016, UTA operated 32 hybrid electric buses.
A project with several partner
Partners of the project of electric buses deployment include the University of Utah, CALSTART, Utah State University, Rocky Mountain Power, and the Utah Office of Energy Development, the press release by New Flyer reports. Rocky Mountain Power will provide technical support and management for daily charging demands, CALSTART will collect data, analyze, and report on vehicle performance, and the Utah Office of Energy Development will support promotion of more efficient, renewable energy infrastructure.
Xcelsior Charge, wide range of battery size
The electric bus Xcelsior Charge by New Flyer is available in 35-foot, 40-foot and 60-foot versions. Battery packs can carry from 100 kWh to 818 kWh of electricity: the vehicles purchased by UTA are equipped with 300 kWh batteries and have a capacity of 83 passengers (40 seated, 43 standing). The standard driveline is a 160 kW Siemens ELFA2 Electric Drive System (while axle are by MAN), but New Flyer also cooperates with ZF: the transport associations of several major U.S. cities have ordered 100 buses from the Xcelsior Charge model series equipped with ZF’s AxTrax AVE electric portal axle.
Electric buses to serve the university
The Xcelsior Charge electric buses will serve Salt Lake City and the University of Utah campus. Three will be deployed on a UTA route between downtown Salt Lake City and the university, while the other two buses will support the university’s new transit shuttle using a dedicated transit and pedestrian lane. UTA provides over 45 million trips annually, and in 2014, UTA was named the American Public Transportation Association’s Outstanding Public Transportation System. New Flyer recently won the largest battery electric bus contract in Canada sofar. The cities of Montréal and Laval, indeed, ordered 40 12 meters (40 foot) New Flyer buses with 466 kWh battery pack for their transit agency, STM and STL respectively
