RDU Likes Its New Passenger Shuttle Buses So Much It Has Decided to Buy Four More
Raleigh-Durham International Airport, which pioneered the use of electric buses in the Triangle, has decided to expand its fleet.
RDU is buying four more 40-passenger electric buses to carry travelers between the terminals its remote parking lots. When they arrive from the manufacturer next year, the new electrics will join four others that have been circulating the RDU campus since last May.
The Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority approved the purchase Thursday for $3.3 million, or about $825,000 each.
Electric buses cost as much as $300,000 more than a comparable diesel, and it’s common for public agencies to receive federal money to help buy them; RDU bought its first four electric buses with the help of a $1.6 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.
But his time, RDU decided to buy electric buses without any government help, according to spokeswoman Stephanie Hawco. RDU officials say electrics are cheaper to operate and maintain and that the savings are enough to help make them a smart choice financially. In the first nine months, RDU says, its new electric buses have driven a combined 100,000 miles and estimates it saved $47,000 on fuel and maintenance costs.
And electric buses are quieter, ride more smoothly and don’t belch out any diesel exhaust, notes John Connell, RDU’s vice president of operational asset management.
The buses will be built by Proterra Inc., a California company with a plant in Greenville, South Carolina. Proterra also built two electric buses for GoTriangle, which put them into service this winter.
Chapel Hill Transit and Duke University expect to add a total of five electric buses to their fleets later this year, and GoRaleigh has ordered five electric buses that it hopes to have on the road by the end of 2020 or early 2021.
RDU operates 14 buses altogether. Until last May, all 14 were diesel.
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