RDU has four Proterra electric buses and expected to receive four more this fall. But the bankruptcy in August has idled the assembly lines, and it’s not clear when the company poised to take over that part of Proterra’s business, Phoenix Motorcars, will get them restarted, says John Connell, RDU’s chief operating officer.
“Right now the best case is August of next year for delivery,” Connell told the Airport Authority board on Thursday. “But there’s still uncertainty about whether the new owner’s going to honor the price, whether they’re going to honor the delivery date. So still kind of up in the air.”
The loss of California-based Proterra has also complicated RDU’s efforts to expand its electric fleet further. In September, the airport sought proposals for buying an additional eight electric buses and received no offers, Connell said.
One company said it didn’t have the capacity to fulfill RDU’s order, while another said its buses were too tall to fit under a taxiway bridge on the RDU campus.
RDU planned to buy the buses with the help of $3.4 million in federal money, which comes with “Buy America” requirements that limit the number of potential bidders, Connell said.
RDU will try again. It’s issuing another request for proposals from electric bus companies, this time for up to 12 buses, in case the Proterra order ultimately falls through.
“We are hopeful that we’ll get bidders this time around,” Connell told the board. “We’re in discussion with those vendors that didn’t submit, and we think there’s a good chance we’ll get bids.”
As a fallback, RDU is also exploring the purchase of new diesel buses.
“We know that’s not the first choice, but we need to have that option on the table, because there is an urgent need for us to get an order placed,” Connell said.
That urgency results in part from the coming expansion of the airport’s largest remote parking lot by 7,000 spaces in early 2025. RDU has 16 buses that shuttle travelers and employees between remote lots and the airport terminals and wants to grow that number to 28.
Twelve of its existing buses are diesel and four are Proterra electrics, which the airport began using in May 2019. The airport ordered four more Proterras in July 2022, with the help of a nearly $1.4 million federal grant, and hoped to have eight more on the way by now.
RDU was the first public bus system in the Triangle to begin using electrics. Since then, GoTriangle, GoRaleigh, GoDurham, Chapel Hill Transit and Duke University have each put at least two electric buses on the road, often with the help of federal grants.
The electrics cost more than standard diesels, but RDU officials say the savings in fuel and maintenance make them a good deal in the long run. The buses are also quieter and smoother and produce less greenhouse gas emissions than diesels.
Connell said RDU’s four Proterra buses have served RDU well. They’re well suited to an airport environment where they’re never far from a charging station and where passengers standing on the curb appreciate not being subjected to diesel exhaust.
“I do see that as the future,” Connell said. “I think some of this is just early market-type issues that will settle down over the years. I do think that long-term that is a viable solution for RDU.”
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