The Orange County Transportation Authority has taken another step toward zero-emission vehicles with plans to add up to 55 battery-powered Chevy Bolts, while a Tesla X SUV is the first all-electric vehicle in the agency’s vanpool program.
OCTA is on a long-term project to meet the state’s mandate to shift its fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2040.
As part of the effort, OCTA’S board approved the purchase of up to 55 battery-electric light-duty vehicles that will support bus operations in the field. The environmentally friendly vehicles will be used primarily to relieve bus operators in the field who have reached the maximum number of working hours for a day.
The 2020 Chevy Bolts will replace existing light-duty vehicles, which run on compressed natural gas. They retail for about $36,000 apiece.
The contract with auto dealership Winner Chevrolet in Colfax is for up to almost $1.8 million, according to OCTA.
Vanpool Users Drop
The Tesla X—which starts around $80,000—is provided by Green Commuter, one of three vanpool companies contracted by OCTA to provide vehicles to commuters in Orange County to help them share rides as they travel to work. OCTA itself doesn’t own the vehicles in the vanpool program.
The all-electric vehicle in the vanpool is being used by five employees who work in Seal Beach at the Naval Weapons Station, according to OCTA. They commute approximately 140 miles roundtrip each day from near Murrieta in southern Riverside County.
“We did really want to start highlighting the fact that there are alternative fuel vehicles available for the vanpool program,” OCTA Deputy CEO Jennifer Bergener told the Business Journal on Aug. 13.
OCTA said Aug. 6 that its vanpool program has 164 active vehicles, most of them that run on gasoline, and now the first all-electric vehicle, with more expected to be added to the fleet.
The overall number of vanpools currently running in Orange County is down sharply from approximately 470 operating prior to the coronavirus pandemic, which led to many employees working remotely.
OCTA helps cover approximately 25% of the cost of operating the vanpools each month.
Bus Fleet
“We contract with three different entities to help us facilitate the vanpool program,” Bergener said. “The end-users select their vehicle type.”
The agency is also searching for the best solution to achieve zero-emission buses.
OCTA started a test of 10 zero-emission hydrogen fuel-cell buses early this year, a $22.9 million investment. Then, in April, the OCTA board approved a pilot program for 10 plug-in battery-electric buses, scheduled to begin operating in late 2021.
The county transit agency operates more than 500 buses in the regular OC bus system across Orange County, all of them using “near-zero- emission” compressed natural gas.
