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One of Frederick County’s electric buses leaves the transit center on South East Street.

 Staff file photo by Graham Cullen

TransIT Services of Frederick County hopes to add several electric buses to its fleet in the coming months, part of the process of moving the county’s fleet toward an electric future.

The transit service has received funding for one electric bus so far in fiscal 2018, and could get another if it is awarded another grant, said TransIT Director Nancy Norris.

Follow Ryan Marshall on Twitter: @RMarshallFNP.

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(6) comments

Charles Jenkins
Charles Jenkins

Typically, electric buses cost about $300k more than diesel buses - why wasn't this information provided? You have the expected fuel / maintenance figures in the article but nothing related to the acquisition price.

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shiftless88

You might want to read this article. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/10/24/16519364/electric-buses

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shiftless88

Charles, if you do the math the fuel costs alone recoup the difference over the lifetime of the bus. Maintenance costs are lower, too.

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jamesnee

Frederick County could really step out and become a pace setter by taking the next (and logical) step by buying Hydrogen Fuel Cell powered or hybrid battery/fuel cell powered equipment. Since no one in the open market is making the intelligent leap, the County could plan an Hydrogen infrastructure system and sell Hydrogen retail to consumers. This technology would be welcomed by many commuters and could even be set up as a public/private partnership in order to make financing easier. The Trump Administration's plan to circumvent logical technological ecological investment may be embraced as opportunity for such a well educated and economically stable County as Frederick is. Though monopoly is supposedly frowned upon in America, the oil companies will eventually go hydrogen; my concept would reward cutting edge investors in a way that could make America keep up to the standard already being set around the world.

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jamesnee

Frederick County could really step out and become a pace setter by taking the next (and logical) step by buying Hydrogen Fuel Cell powered or hybrid battery/fuel cell powered equipment. Since no one in the open market is making the intelligent leap, the County could plan an Hydrogen infrastructure system and sell Hydrogen retail to consumers. This technology would be welcomed by many commuters and could even be set up as a public/private partnership in order to make financing easier. The Trump Administration's plan to circumvent logical technological ecological investment may be embraced as opportunity for such a well educated and economically stable County as Frederick is. Though monopoly is supposedly frowned upon in America, the oil companies will eventually go hydrogen; my concept would reward cutting edge investors in a way that could make America keep up to the standard already being set around the world.

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DickD

Fuel cells are a great idea, but still have problems. As you are probably aware, batteries degrade with every charge and the replacement costs are huge, the fuel cells have a similar problem with degrading. But, they can be charged very fast compared to an EV. You might want to look at this internet site.
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-longevity-of-fuel-cell

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