Legislator Presses DOT On Electric Buses

Vincent Candelora showed up at Hamden’s CT Transit bus maintenance and storage garage — not to catch a ride, but to ask questions.

His questions had to do with how the state’s newfangled electric CT Transit buses are faring on the road — and if Connecticut is ready to mandate that school buses all go green as well.

The first 10 electric buses have hit the road in the Greater New Haven area over the past couple of months. Two more arrived recently. The state just announced it’s receiving $11.4 million from the feds toward the $25.7 million cost of adding 22 new electric buses to its fleet. Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Joseph Giulietti said the state expects to replace all 800 of its buses with electric models over the next decade.

The first 12 buses are stored and recharged at the Hamden facility on State Street.

Candelora, a state presentative from Wallingford who serves as the state House Republican leader, popped in there Tuesday to speak with drivers and technicians and state transit officials after hearing reports that the buses initially needed more frequent charges than expected and overall did not initially function as well as predicted.

In the backdrop is a sweeping climate-change bill before the state legislature this session, which will be voted on in the coming weeks. Among many other provisions, the measure, Senate Bill 4, would require all school buses in the state to be ​“zero emissions” — i.e., electric, rather than diesel-powered — by 2035, and by 2030 in ​“environmental justice communities” like polluted poor cities. (Click here to read about that and the overall bill.)

Candelora said that before lawmakers require private companies to follow suit in turning their fleets green, they should be sure their assumptions play out on the road.

“It is still evolving technology,” Candelora said. ​“If we’re going to mandate it on private bus companies, it behooves everybody to have a better understanding of how these buses are operating.”

In particular, Candelora asked about reports from CT Transit drivers that they had to return to the facility mid-shift to switch buses because the batteries didn’t last the full run.

Phil Madonna, New Haven/Hamden area shop steward for Local 281 Amalgamated Transit Union, told the Independent that his drivers have indeed reported some times in which the charge hasn’t lasted for entire routes, along with some initial bugs discovered with the charging equipment. United Illuminating was called in at one point because of a charger that blew, he said.

“We’re the guinea pigs” for the new technology, Madonna said of the local drivers. Problems are ​“to be expected [with] something as new as this.”

Candelora also asked the DOT whether assumptions about cost savings were proving true, and if the batteries are running out quicker than expected in cold weather.

Dennis Solensky, the state DOT’s public transit administrator, attended the meeting and told Candelora that the new buses are working well. They can run up to 162 – 170 miles per charge and stay on the road 12 – 14 hours, he said. He estimated that each bus will save $400,000 over its projected 12-year lifetime, compared to diesel buses that drive 3.8 miles per gallon and require more maintenance. With efficiency increasing 5 – 10 percent in newer-model batteries, the state anticipates even more savings from the electric buses that arrive in subsequent waves of the changeover of the fleet.

In some cases buses have returned to the garage mid-shift, Solensky acknowledged, but that’s because the crew is testing out different routes to see how far each charge can last. Different factors lead to different draws on the battery: For instance, whether a route has more stops in an urban setting (during which the batteries can recharge) or travels longer distances between stops.

“When we first got them, we put them on short routes, testing them just to make sure they would run efficiently,” Solensky later told the Independent. ​“We graduated them to longer and longer routes and pushed them harder and harder in terms of the range… The ranges are getting longer and longer. The length of charge is getting longer and longer.”

Overall, he said, ​“There isn’t anything that’s not working. It’s exceptional cutting-edge technology. There are some things we need to work through. … The bus has pretty much exceeded my optimism.”

Candelora said he still has questions, and wants to see how the buses perform this summer.

“They indicate that absolutely it’s worth it,” he said of the DOT. ​“I think there’s promise in it. I understand the concept: You’re cutting out mechanical costs. You’re cutting out gasoline. These buses could be worth it. But they’re expensive. .. These are the first 10 that the state has brought in. Before we start adding more, let’s know what the good and bad is.”

Candelora said he still has questions, and wants to see how the buses perform this summer.

Union steward Madonna said ​“the technology’s not there yet” for electric buses to charge long enough for some of the more extended CT Transit routes. ​“It’s easier for a school bus,” he said. ​“They don’t have to last that long” to cover morning routes and then pick-ups later in the day.

New Haven State Rep. Roland Lemar, co-chair of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, echoed that last point: School bus routes run two and a half hours in the morning, then two and a half hours in the afternoon, so there’s no question the technology works, he argued. He agreed that ​“we need to bring the cost down” for bus companies. He said that his committee has ​“actively been working closely with companies like Dattco” to do that: ​“They’re in support of this and helping us delineate how to make this work.”

As for larger concerns about the CT Transit buses, ​“Rep. Candelora is correct that we’ve learned a lot” in the initial months of operating the first 10 electric vehicles, Lemar said: ​“What we’ve learned is that we can move forward.”

“I think it’s important that we put all of this in context,” Lemar said. ​“Asthma rates in our cities and air quality in Connecticut are some of the worst in our country. We have an obligation to investigate and lead on any implementation of electric buses, electric school buses, anything that can remove diesel pollutants and ozone pollutants from the atmosphere. We have an obligation to lead on that. We have technology that is working right now.”