ETS Electric Bus testing

[MatthewB]

17 hours ago, M. Parsons said:

Going to the Executive Committee is a recommendation to purchase 20 electric buses with a top up interest free loan from the Canadian Infrastructure Bank Zero Emisson Bus program.

60 buses is the maximum capacity of the existing infrastructure, anything beyond that would need infrastructure upgrades and additions. 

Thanks for bringing this up, it is wonderful news! I hope that the committee passes this, and council follows suit. Electric buses are better for our health and the environment, and they can also serve as a great PR tool for electric vehicles by demonstrating that they can work just fine in a winter climate like ours, and exposing this technology to people who would probably not have otherwise used electric vehicles.

Fun little fact: This would give us the largest fleet of electric buses in Canada; just beating Toronto's fleet of 59.

10 hours ago, Catherine Wilkins said:

April 01st, 2021 was a record breaking day ... twenty battery electric buses saw daylight that day.

This is the first time that 20 of our 40 electric buses have been out at once? Is it because ETS serves a few specific routes with them, are some buses still being commissioned, or have they all been used on different routes but just at different times?* Just to be clear, I'm not upset or anything, I just wanna learn more about how these buses are being utilized by the city

*Besides the 40th bus which was discussed previously.

[M. Parsons]

1 hour ago, MatthewB said:

Fun little fact: This would give us the largest fleet of electric buses in Canada; just beating Toronto's fleet of 59.

Only if Toronto doesn't procure more before Edmonton. These buses might not materialize until 2022 and beyond depending upon procurement and vendor capacity. There might be at least 10 buses available on our Proterra procurement that were tied to bus lanes on the Terwilliger expansion until that was cut due to Provincial funding cut. At that point sole sourcing the balance could be justified.

[Bus_Medic]

Thus far, you can keep them.

[M. Parsons]

4 hours ago, MatthewB said:

This is the first time that 20 of our 40 electric buses have been out at once? Is it because ETS serves a few specific routes with them, are some buses still being commissioned, or have they all been used on different routes but just at different times?* 

Response Part 2.

I counted 13 buses on the road at once. I presume 20 was the total number of blocks dispatched for the whole day. That means it wasn't 20 buses on the road at once, and some buses may have had a AM and PM peak piece.

13 is about as many at once as I think we've ever seen, however, back in October we did see 12 on the road at once, out of a fleet of 21. That was impressive. 13 out of 40 is less impressive. It wasn't too long after the 12 were on the road at once that Proterra's on the road dropped significantly and has now only started to return to those levels now, albeit, with a larger fleet available. I have some speculation why the drop, but no solid information. 

[M. Parsons]

8039 entered service today as a route 3.

Plate CHF-8640

[MatthewB]

On 4/2/2021 at 7:53 PM, M. Parsons said:

Going to the Executive Committee is a recommendation to purchase 20 electric buses with a top up interest free loan from the Canadian Infrastructure Bank Zero Emisson Bus program.

60 buses is the maximum capacity of the existing infrastructure, anything beyond that would need infrastructure upgrades and additions. 

The following was approved by the Executive Committee without debate:

"That Executive Committee recommend to City Council:

That capital profile 21-61-3621 - Electric Buses - ZEB Program, set out in Attachment 2 of the April 12, 2021, City Operations report CO00366, be approved with funding as follows:

● $12,560,000 transferred from existing capital profile CM-66-3600 Bus Fleet & Equipment Rehabilitation and Replacement, and

● $14,440,000 of new Tax-Supported Debt from the Canada Infrastructure Bank - Zero Emissions Buses Program."

Here's the full report.

This proposal is item 7.9 on council's agenda for Monday, April 19.

[CDW]

Deleted

[M. Parsons]

8039 on the 3 this morning. Cold enough apparently for the diesel heater to be used, as evident from the black smoke coming from below the rear bumper.

8012 on a PM peak 125 at Stadium.

[MatthewB]

On 4/14/2021 at 1:47 PM, MatthewB said:

This proposal is item 7.9 on council's agenda for Monday, April 19.

The proposed borrowing bylaw passed first reading without debate, and will now be advertised to the public. The earliest that it can be signed and passed is Monday, May 17, 2021.

[Benton Harper]

Wouldn't the use of a diesel heater negate the "clean" branding?  Then again, the power used might not exactly be green either...

[M. Parsons]

After a quiet day Monday for electrics and nothing on the weekend... 

We finally saw something close to a proper dispatching of the buses today. 

Stats are:

Total of 29 buses went into service.

Centennial had a poor showing:
4/ 8 buses: 2 AM trippers, 2 PM trippers.

In the past Centennial has managed 2 AM trippers, and PM buses, sometimes both on blocks running into the evening and even late evening period.

Andrews:
26/32 buses, 26/ 30 buses active in April (8009 last seen November 2020, 8016 March 30, 2021).

10 AM Peak-PM Peak 2 C/O
5 PM-Late Night
1 PM- Evening (22:00ish)
10 PM Tripper
10 AM Tripper

6 Buses did AM and PM trippers
1 Bus did a AM tripper and PM Peak - Evening (22:00ish)
1 Bus did a AM tripper and PM- Late night tripper for a in service scheduled of a few minutes shy of 12 hours for the day, plus deadhead time. AM tripper was just over 2 hours, so relatively short, but still, good use to maximize the bus.
8035 and 8039 changed over for diesels.

Grand total of 36 blocks dispatched as electric buses today, by far an away the highest total every.
There's been a change in the types of blocks too, possibly as a result of building new blocks from scratch for the BNR.
Previously it was common to find electrics on block that started in the AM peak and ran until midday, with more coming out to do PM peak- evening blocks that would end around 21:00-22:30. Now, we are seeing more AM peak - PM peak blocks, there were no blocks that were only scheduled until midday. 
The block starting in the PM peak are now often running until late night, with most ending at 24:00 and one around 23:30. About an extra 2 hours of run time compared to previous scheduling. 

There are some blocks that were quite short, but, there's one block in particular to keep an eye on this evening: 5-02 has a scheduled service of 14 hours 21 minutes and has 30 minutes left to finish. I'd be curious what the record is, at least in North America, for the longest run time of a depot charged bus in regular service. If this isn't a record, it has to be damn close to it. And while passenger loads aren't particularly heavy due to Covid at this time, this block does a lot of route 5's which are certainly one of the heavier loads that will be experienced with the current passenger volume. The route is certainly not wandering the suburbs. As I type this it has departed on it's last trip. Chances are if it wasn't going to have the battery power to finish it would have been changed over at Clareview.

One final note on the AM peak - PM peak block. They were common up until October-November 2020 just before the electrics went into hiding. 

In the mean time, enjoy some shots of Proterra's on their final days on the old network.

8012 at the old route 3 Cromdale loop.

8015 departing NAIT Loop as a route 9 Downtown.

8038 arriving at Eaux Claires as a route 163.

8003 departing Leger as a route 23S school extra.

8035 at Stadium as a 120.

 

[MatthewB]

Edmonton's zero-emission bus fleet to grow by 20 after $14.4M federal investment

https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/edmonton-s-zero-emission-bus-fleet-to-grow-by-20-after-14-4m-federal-investment-1.5454615

[Benton Harper]

perhaps ETS will try another manufacturer?

[Nick B]

Some white Proterras are inside the Big Rig Collision shop in Calgary today presumably bound for Edmonton.

[LRT]

I spotted unit number 8003 This morning heading north towards Edmonton just outside of red deer on a flatbed truck. It was completely painted in ETS livery

It’s probably already in Edmonton by now.

[T6H-5307N]

56 minutes ago, LRT said:

I spotted unit number 8003 This morning heading north towards Edmonton just outside of red deer on a flatbed truck. It was completely painted in ETS livery

It’s probably already in Edmonton by now.

Interesting... are you 100% certain on the unit number and livery? Pure speculation, but it will be very interesting to see if this is a repaired unit, a replacement unit, or part of the order for 20 more buses. Keep an eye out for more inbound units as there are a handful of other broken ones that were rumored to have been sent out for repair.

[LRT]

8 minutes ago, T6H-5307N said:

Interesting... are you 100% certain on the unit number and livery? Pure speculation, but it will be very interesting to see if this is a repaired 8003, a replacement 8003, or part of the order for 20 more buses. Keep an eye out for more inbound units as there are a handful of other broken ones that were rumored to have been sent out for repair.

I am about 75% positive that it was unit 8003 and 100% positive it was in the regular livery.
 

I had a lot of time to take pictures of it but my daughter was playing with my phone and had a hard time getting it back from herI had a lot of time to take pictures of it but my daughter was playing with my phone and had a hard time getting it back from her. 
 

Dammit!

[T6H-5307N]

1 minute ago, LRT said:

I had a lot of time to take pictures of it but my daughter was playing with my phone and had a hard time getting it back from her.

Dammit!

Lol -- no worries. I only ask because 8003 was/is in the electric bus livery so it would be very strange for it to have been repainted unless it was a replacement bus or different unit altogether!

[T6H-5307N]

On 7/16/2021 at 3:21 PM, T6H-5307N said:

Lol -- no worries. I only ask because 8003 was/is in the electric bus livery so it would be very strange for it to have been repainted unless it was a replacement bus or different unit altogether!

Well it turns out that at least one Proterra has returned with a new paint job, so you could very well have seen 8003 in blue & silver...

8008, August 2020:

http://www.barp.ca/bus/alberta/ets/2020zx5max/ets8008-j2.jpg

Today:

Now the question is what defect did it have that merited sending the entire bus away for repainting...

 

[M. Parsons]

8006 has reentered service without the white livery. There is what looks like caulking around a rear body panel which wasn't present on 8008.

Did check the VIN plate on the bus and that checks out as expected. November 2019 build date, CAT40DP for the model, VIN as expected. Registration papers list the bus model as E2 MAX and body colour as blue. Very curious if that was always listed as blue, or if the white livery buses were listed as white on the reg papers.

[MTL66]

Are there still any white Proterras running around? Only saw some in ETS Standard Livery today.

Also what is the best route to find them on. We gappened on them by pure luck today

[M. Parsons]

1 hour ago, MTL66 said:

Are there still any white Proterras running around? Only saw some in ETS Standard Livery today.

Also what is the best route to find them on. We gappened on them by pure luck today

All white livery Proterra's are MIA or in the blue livery.

There is no best route to find Proterra's on. They can show anywhere, anytime for the most part due to interlines, although with Andrews running the majority, they do tend to show up in North and Northeast a bit more than other areas. 

[T6H-5307N]

12 minutes ago, M. Parsons said:

All white livery Proterra's are MIA or in the blue livery.

There is no best route to find Proterra's on. They can show anywhere, anytime for the most part due to interlines, although with Andrews running the majority, they do tend to show up in North and Northeast a bit more than other areas. 

For the record, 8020 was the last white unit to track in service on August 12th. I suspect the remaining ones have all been sent out for repainting at this point...

1 hour ago, MTL66 said:

Also what is the best route to find them on. We gappened on them by pure luck today

Your best bet is to use T55 to check during peak hours. Most ETS blocks are interlined across 3,4,5,6,7,... different routes, so it is unusual for any bus to stay on one route for more than a few hours at a time.

[MTL66]

Thanks,

My last day in Edmonton tomorrow, so I want to maximize the most photos I can. We did everything on the outskirts of Edmonton today so we can spend the full day in Edmonton tomorrow

[MTL66]

It would be a great help if someone could say the best terminal in the North and NorthEast of the city. Where is my best chance to find them the easiest.

Is t55, Transit55, the same app used in Calgary and Vancouver?