Battery-Electric Transit Buses Coming to Maryland

BYD, the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles, has announced that Howard County Transit, a division of the Regional Transit Authority of Central Maryland (RTA), has received delivery of three 35-foot BYD K9S Battery-Electric, Zero-Emission Buses.

The company reports that these are the first zero-emission electric transit buses in Maryland.

To support the effort, an inductive charging station will be installed on the Green Line in downtown Columbia, MD. As the bus drives over this and pauses, this system will give the batteries a quick boost of energy through electromagnetic induction, all without making any direct contact with the bus.

The buses can also be plugged in to charge fully before and after service. Combining inductive and plug-in charging, the buses have the range to complete any route in the Howard County system.

The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) will evaluate the energy efficiency and cost effectiveness of the all-electric bus program. The project is funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) through the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) Program

The BYD K9S 35-foot bus has a range of 161 miles on a single charge, the largest for an electric bus of its size available in North America.

Category: Featured, Green