Santa Monica to Launch Pilot Program Using Electric Buses

Santa Monica is preparing new battery-powered buses for service in the city’s downtown shuttle line to test how well electric buses work as public transportation.

For the pilot project, scheduled to begin in January, the city purchased three buses that are powered by 108 six-volt batteries and can operate 10 to 12 hours before needing to be recharged, said Cynthia Gibson, spokeswoman for Santa Monica’s Municipal Bus Lines. Bus line officials plan to examine the performance of the electric buses on a fixed route to determine their suitability.

“We want to test the vehicle reliability and operating costs and compare them to the operating cost of a standard bus,” said Gibson of the buses, which were purchased for $200,000 each.

The 26-foot vehicles, which can travel up to 40 mph, are better for the environment because they do not create emissions and make little noise, said Roy Neva, the bus line’s manager of vehicle engineering.

After each day of shuttling passengers between the city’s Main Street shopping area and the Third Street Promenade, the buses will be hooked up to a recharging station that was built last summer at the city bus yards, Neva said. The buses, which hold the batteries in three separate packs under their seats, need 8 to 12 hours of recharging.

With a full charge, the buses are designed to travel up to 120 miles or 90 miles if the air conditioner is in use, Neva said.

The project is being funded by a grant from the Southern California Air Quality Management District, Southern California Edison and state transportation funds, Gibson said. Four hotels where the shuttles will stop also are paying some of the operating costs.

Unwilling to plaster the new buses with the usual advertising, bus line officials asked artists to submit original designs for the buses. The three designs chosen are a portrait of horses from a carousel, a view from the Santa Monica Pier and a beach scene.

The artwork was then redrawn by a computer that prints the creation on a plastic wrap that will cover each bus.