SEATTLE — Amtrak and the Washington State Department of Transportation have introduced the first electric bus used as part of the Amtrak network, providing service on the Amtrak Cascades route between Seattle and Bellingham, Wash.
Mid-day buses help fill the gap between the morning and evening trains on the Cascades route between Seattle and Bellingham; the buses also stop in Everett and Mount Vernon and connect with trains operating south of Seattle. The bus, owned and operated by MTRWestern, can make the nearly 200-mile round trip on a single charge.
“By incorporating environmental considerations into our current operations and as we work with our partners to reach more of America, we continue to make Amtrak an even ‘greener’ mode of transportation,” Kara Oldhouser, Amtrak’s sustainability director, said in a press release. Washington Secretary of Transportation Roger Millar said WSDOT “is pleased to be the first in the country to offer electric bus service on an intercity route that’s part of Amtrak’s National Network. … Adding a bus to our fleet that is powered by clean energy further affirms our commitment to offer environmentally friendly travel options in the Pacific Northwest.”
MTRWestern says the trip is an ideal length for an electric bus and will save approximately 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year, cutting CO2 emissions by 109 tons annually.
“The future is electric, and we are committed to delivering carbon-free intercity and group transportation throughout the Pacific Northwest. We consider the collaboration on this route a transformational step towards even greater EV regional transit,” said MTRWestern President Jeremy Butzlaff.
Lets see how long this experiment lasts, especially in winter.
New flash; batteries don’t like cold weather.
1. If the bus is rated for 200 miles, and the route is 90, it should be feasible to ‘top off’ the batteries after a one way trip.
2. I don’t see an ADA lift. Unacceptable!
3. NOTHING is carbon-free. We humans exhale CO2. That said, fossil fuels and many other basic processes in our industrial structure are seriously damaging the planet. They must be modified or ended if we wish to survive. Anyone who watches webcams sees diesels belching smog. Renewables are not perfect, BUT way better than burning coal. Ending both oil and coal extraction will be a great step forward.
4. We have seen the big six concentrate freight of a few routes which should make electrification more financially rational.
5. Private sector intransigence (its experimental, its expensive) is why we have a government to force cleanup of toxic sludge.
“1. If the bus is rated for 200 miles, and the route is 90, it should be feasible to ‘top off’ the batteries after a one way trip.” Good thought, your batteries will love you for that, provided they are not susceptible to memory effect damage.
So much to unpack from this article and the issues/controversies therein, it’s hard to know where to start on all of this …….
In addition to the eloquent and extensive comments noted in this piece, here are my two-cents (and various gripes):
1) The Seattle-to-Bellingham corridor is (approximately) 90-miles one-way, via Interstate 5. So, if this EV bus has a nominal battery-powered range of 200-miles (?), it should be able to do one-round-trip without running out of power and end up stranded by the side of the road.
2) That fact noted, as others have cited here, in either excessively cold weather in the winter-time, or hot-weather/high-heat in the summer time (not unknown up here, even though it is usually more temperate here than other parts of the country) this 200-mile, nominal, battery range might be reduced to the point this EV bus couldn’t do one RT between charges. Will there be possibilities for a quick “re-charge” at either station at the end of trip to fill this performance gap? I don’t know, but I hope they’ve thought about this (instead of just gushing over the ‘woke’ celebration of the first EV bus in the northwest)
3) – To Mr. Bruce/Powell’s points above, yes, the Proterra EV bus manufacturer just filed for bankruptcy last week, they’ve built a number of first/second generation EV buses, primarily for local transit agencies. Not familiar with the performance/success of these EV transit buses, but Proterra is the third EV manufacturer to file for bankruptcy in the past year. Nonetheless, early, highly connected elite investors in the Proterra IPO included: Al Gore, George Soros, and the Biden Administration’s very own Dept. of Energy Secretary, Jennifer Grandholm, who pocketed a $1.5M profit when she sold her stock. Not sure about Mr. Gore or Mr. Soros’ gains or losses, though I suspect they cashed out well before Proterra went belly-up. How much taxpayer funds have been lost in this bankruptcy though? A “Green” (political) “pump & dump” stock-scheme anyone?
4) To Mr. Chandler and Mr. Forbes’ several points above, the private-sector doesn’t see an investment payback on this “experimental” EV bus and thus that’s why it’s subsidized by the taxpayers. One can debate the merits of this pro/con, but also see my comments above about the private/public Proterra EV manufacturer investments (and subsequent bankruptcy). And no, this EV bus “experiment” is not truly “carbon-free” for all of the reasons noted above ….
5) – To Mike Lustig’s comment above, yes, Amtrak is (theoretically) a “train-company” and not a “bus company” though as noted they do operate connector buses and the mid-day Seattle /Bellingham bus connection is an example of this. They also operate a number of feeder bus connections both up here in the Pacific NW ‘Cascades’ corridor and down in California on the various corridors there, Arguably a bus “connection” or service is a more efficient and cost-effective than operating a complete passenger train. Unfortunately, as Amtrak’s “train” operations continue to fail and fall apart, they seem to be substituting buses for their failing train consists more frequently.
6) – I experienced this situation first-hand earlier this week when I was supposed to take an Amtrak “Cascades” passenger train service to Portland from Seattle (and then return a few days later). We ended up on a bus for both trips due to “equipment issues” (failing air-conditioning on both trainsets, one of which was the ((supposedly)) newer/remaining Oregon Talgo trainsets). Although the Amtrak personnel were courteous, helpful, and trying to make the best of a bad situation, the experience didn’t exactly inspire me to want to ride the Amtrak “Cascades” service again anytime soon ……
Let’s hope it doesn’t get caught in a traffic jam in the middle of the winter or the passengers will be in for a long cold wait.
“The future is electric, and we are committed to delivering carbon-free intercity and group transportation throughout the Pacific Northwest. We consider the collaboration on this route a transformational step towards even greater EV regional transit,” If it is truly carbon-free where does the power come from to recharge the batteries? Were the materials used to make the batteries produced carbon free, are the batteries manufactured with carbon free power? How many trips will the bus have to make to equal these environmental costs? Oh, and then the batteries need to be recycled.
Public Service of New Jersey had All-Service Vehicles. These were Yellow gas-electric buses that also had trolley poles and controls allowing the coach to operate from 600 VDC directly.
At the far end of the route the coach ran as a conventional gas-electric, but where the routes converged, the operator shut down the gas engine and put the poles up, operating the coach as a trackless trolley. (PS still had the substations and power distributon from when the lines were rail trolleys). The ASV’s ran through WWII after which they were 20 years old and GM coaches with 71-series diesels took over the routes.
IF “clean energy” transportation were economically sound, private investors would be all over this. The only reason this bus exists is tax money is making up the difference. While the bus uses a form of stored energy to move, the environmental cost is NOT zero. It is paid by someone else and the cost is shifted around. Will we be informed of the success of this program or its failure? All this is still experimental and the costs and benefits have yet to be demonstrated by years of data. Read “His Majesty’s Airship” for a disturbing parallel. Cheers!
What I would like to see, especially on interurban routes, is catenary (actually overhead trolley wire) strung for these electric busses in more densely populated areas, with enough GRADUALLY (re)charged batteries to travel reliably without catenary to the next catenary equipped city. In that way the busses, (and streetcars as well), could move about within city limits while at the same time gradually keeping their batteries (re)charged for the next extended interurban route. And a centrally located “car barn” garage wouldn’t have to be overloaded with so many recharging busses or streetcars concentrated at the same time, helping to reduce any high electric demand issues.
If this bus is anything like an electric car, the quote that the bus will make the nearly 200 mile round trip on a single charge should be changed to it will barely make the 200 mile trip on a charge if everything goes right.
A neighbor had an electric car for 10 months. Took research and salesperson’s word that it would get 250 miles to a charge. rarely did it come that close. Took a beating when he sold it. Had to sell it in private sale because dealership didn’t want it. Dealer wasn’t set up to repair electric vehicles and would loose money if it needed repairs.
In the spring and fall everything was fine and dandy. But when it got hot or cold he was lucky to get 65% of the expected distance on a charge. In summer the battery drained faster because extended use of air conditioning and batteries aren’t as efficient when it gets hot. In winter batteries take longer to charge and rarely fully charge when temperature is near or below freezing. Also use of heater drains battery.
“Million dollar electric buses sold in Cedar Rapids for $30,000,” Radio Iowa, April 8, 2008.
https://www.radioiowa.com/2008/04/08/million-dollar-electric-buses-sold-in-cedar-rapids-for-30000/
“Free” federal money in the form of a grant enticed the City of Cedar Rapids, IA to buy into the magic electric bus.
Hopefully the bus batteries are a hell of a lot better than they used to be.
Just waiting for the battery fire
No mention of any costs to taxpayers or is it all free?
I know Amtrak doesn’t have equipment but isn’t Amtrak supposed to be a train company vs a bus company?
It looks like a Van Hool CX45E bus.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Amtrak continues to make itself an even “greener” mode of transportation.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Introducing the first-ever electric bus – instead of a diesel-powered bus – into the daily Thruway schedule helps Amtrak advance its pledge to become net zero by 2045. The company is examining other routes within the National Network for electric vehicles and alternative fuels.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
“No mention of any costs to taxpayers or is it all free?”
Passengers pay a fare to ride the bus. Taxpayers pick up the wear and tear on the highway and Amtrak pays the bus company out of the fare revenue. With one driver and no Class 1 RR user charge, the bus should make money.
Reading Company had its own bus company. Where there would not be enough revenue at a schedulled time to run a train, they schedulled a bus instead. It had’ to be identified as such in the timetable because the bus didn’t always go to the RR Station and made some highway stops the train could not.
The Swiss had some interurban trackless trolley routes, but these used double overhead wire, not batteries
“trackless trolleys” (catenary -based busses) were common in the Boston area as I grew up (in the 50’s 60’s??)
Allen. I remember those well, was my ride to nursery school in Roxbury. Some of the subway stations (Eggleston in Roxbury, Harvard, Fields Corners, I believe Ashmont) accomodated trackless trolleys to meet the subway trains. Can’t say when they were discontinued. Diesel buses took over these routes, except of course Eggleston which was demolished.
The new Silver Line uses combo diesel/ trollet wire buses.
In 1984 I rode a trolley bus in Edmonton, Alberta.
The transportation star of the trolleybus (or trambus in a few countries) is still bright in some European cities. But of course it is not possible that its star can be as bright as that of the streetcar/tramway!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Didn’t the heavily subsidized company who makes those busses just file for bankruptcy?
That was Proterra which builds transit busses that filled for bankruptcy.