"These new battery buses will multiply our ability to protect our climate and clean air in King County,” says Councilwoman Claudia Balducci.

Transportation creates nearly half of all of Washington’s greenhouse emissions. The King County Strategic Climate Action Plan includes increased transit service and a cleaner fleet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

King County’s recent move to adopt zero-emission electric buses is backed by a $3.3 million dollar grant from the Federal Transit Administration’s Low-or No-Emission Vehicle Deployment Program. These dollars will help fund some of the new buses as well as charging stations for the three buses already operating. The 40 foot buses have an estimated range of about 25 miles, with a quick charge time of 10 minutes.

Metro will initially purchase up to 73 Catalyst buses from California based Proterra. Eight will go into service this year, with 12 more coming on board during 2018-2019. Up to eight of the new 40-foot battery buses will likely operate on the initial test routes, 226 and 241 in Bellevue.

“King County has long been an innovator in clean vehicle technology. Now, we’re dramatically expanding our zero-emission electric buses and working with the industry to innovate and offer next generation vehicles that move people quietly and cleanly while helping meet our climate goals,” says County Executive Dow Constantine.

By beefing up their fleet of all-electric battery buses, Metro is not only reducing emissions in our region, but influencing the development and expansion of the all-electric bus market nationally.

Each battery bus reduces tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 65 tons each year, the equivalent of 21 cars off the road. The new buses run cleaner, quieter, and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

King County’s bus program is riding the wave of the future and is in line with the coming ACES revolution in transportation in which Automated, Connected, Electric and Shared vehicles will be the norm.

Revolutionary new transportation technologies can get us moving safer, faster, greener, and cheaper with ACES technology: vehicles that are automated, connected, electric and shared.

Automated vehicles have the potential to transform personal mobility, improve traffic flow and facilitate ride sharing. They will hugely reduce accidents. After all, 94% of crashes are due to human error.

Connected vehicles communicate with other vehicles and with the advanced highway control systems and infrastructure to reduce accidents and congestion.

Electric vehicles plug into our clean, low cost power grid, decreasing pollution and fuel costs. They are fun to drive and highly reliable.

Shared vehicles mean more people getting to and from their destinations in fewer cars. Cars and trucks can give others rides while their owners are at work.