According to new data from the Federal Transit Administration, covering 2021, agencies operated 1,548 electric buses. That’s about 2.5 percent of the 61,893 buses on roadways, including commuter buses, bus rapid transit and trolley buses.
A great illustration of how few electric buses are on the road can be found in Painesville, Ohio, population 20,591. The Laketran transit agency, serving Lake County, added 10 electric buses to its fleet in 2021 out of 27 total buses.
That was enough to give it the second-largest fleet of electric buses in Ohio, after Dayton, whose electric buses are all trolley buses. It was also enough to make Laketran’s fleet the third-most electric in the nation by percentage, after Antelope Valley Transit Authority in Lancaster, Calif., and the city of Clemson, S.C.
“We’re replacing 12-year-old diesel engines with a vehicle that is powered by a battery pack,” said Laketran CEO Ben Capelle in a press release last year. “This means no diesel fuel, no oil changes, no combustion engine replacements or exhaust systems to maintain. We’re very conscious of the impact transportation has on the environment and we’re committed to improving the air quality in Northeast Ohio.”
Last year, 108 transit agencies reported having at least one active electric bus, up from 82 in 2020. Here’s a searchable table to see if your local transit agency was one of them.
METHODOLOGY
This data comes from the 2021 National Transit Database managed by the Federal Transit Administration. 2021 is the most recent year of data available; check back for updates as more data is released. This table only includes data from full reporters, which make up the majority of transit trips nationwide.
The number of buses was pulled from “Revenue Vehicle Inventory” and the miles driven by fuel type came from “Fuel and Energy.” Only rows coded “CB” (commuter bus), “MB” (municipal bus), “RB” (bus rapid transit) and “TB” (trolley bus) were included for the purposes of this table. Certain duplicate rows were removed from the “Revenue Vehicle Inventory” data when the transit agency, number of vehicles, year of manufacture and number of miles driven all matched.
Do you have a correction or update to report? If so, send an email to bmiller@erepublic.com.
