This operated most of the surface transit in San Francisco in the 1920s and 1930s, and was mainly a streetcar system. So if the benefits of electric vehicles outweigh the cons, why don’t you see more driving around? In lots of ways, the electric bus feels like a technology whose time has come. China is leading the world in electric vehicle adoption, with almost all city buses run on electric batteries. They are a better choice because they: 1. If you are looking to have a larger gathering of people together, it makes sense to rent a larger vehicle that can just accommodate everyone since it avoids delays, lets everyone stay together, and just makes for more fun in general. For cities outside of China—many of them still testing out electric buses and figuring out how they fit into their larger fleets—learning about what it takes to run one is part of the process. Due to the much larger mass of a bus than a car, electric buses have an effective range that is much lower than an electric car — as little as 30 miles. Though electric buses are not new—the first was introduced in Berlin in 1882—older models frequently required wires to hang over each bus route, marking bus paths through city streets. A widely-circulating concern about EV safety revolves around the potential for fire, but in reality, EVs are far less likely to catch fire than gas cars. The answer is easy: electric buses. Life cycle emissions from natural gas vehicles depend greatly on the extent of methane leaks throughout the fuel’s life cycle and the global warming potential used for methane. The MPG numbers shown in the map above go several steps further and include upstream emissions, which is why we refer to them as “the equivalent life cycle global warming emissions from a diesel bus with X miles per gallon efficiency.” A mouthful, but a critical distinction. The technology is proven, is available today, and arguably can have a better carbon footprint than many other sources, including electric buses. To date, however, most city transit agencies have purchased BEBs in small numbers, to test them for reliability and compare them to traditional buses. When energy demands are high or if energy resources are intermittent, the batteries in electric school buses can provide power to the grid to help meet current demands. They can reduce emissions and even save you money. See Chapter 2 of this report: https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/electric-vehicles/life-cycle-ev-emissions. Optimists say e-buses are more of a question of when than if. There are currently two electric buses in operation, in a fleet of 1300. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Your California Privacy Rights. If you look at other sources, the carbon numbers fall below the battery electric carbon emissions with current fuels/grid, and I suspect would be negative with a few different sources. Note, converting the fuel efficiency of the electric bus (i.e., 2.02 kWh per mile) into an equivalent miles per diesel gallon (using the amount of energy contained in a gallon of diesel, 129,488 British thermal units per gallon), gives an equivalent fuel efficiency of the battery electric bus of 18.8 miles per diesel gallon equivalent. This is 2.5 times better than an actual diesel bus (4.8 miles per gallon). “With new technology, it always feels great when it shows up,” says Ambrose. But, if you want to compare two different types of vehicles, e.g. Transit agencies can also choose cleaner power than what’s provided on their grids by installing solar panels and batteries on site or through renewable electricity contracts.