40 feet long, with a range of 25 miles, and a 10-minute charging time. Those are the baseline stats for the additional battery-powered Metro buses announced today, following up on the testing announced back in 2015. King County Executive Dow Constantine says Metro is buying “up to 73 all-electric battery buses from Proterra at a cost of up to $55 million, starting with 20 buses totaling $15.12 million. Charging stations to support the initial orders of those buses will range from $5.5 million to $6.6 million.” The first eight will go into service this year, likely in Bellevue. But that’s just part of the plan, according to the news release:
As part of today’s announcement, Metro will acquire up to nine long-range electric buses from different manufacturers to test the battery technology with a range of about 140 miles. With this approximately $7 million acquisition, Metro is challenging the industry to produce buses that can travel farther. Metro also is calling on the industry to develop 60-foot long buses, better able to replace the articulated buses that make up 55 percent of its fleet.
That’s the length of many buses you see in West Seattle – RapidRide, Route 120, Route 21, among others. Read today’s announcement in its entirety here.
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