Austin electric buses: 22 hours on one charge cycle

CapMetro's electric buses were limited by how long a battery could last between depot sessions. The agency's answer is to charge them while they work. Two new park-and-ride facilities, Goodnight Ranch and Expo Center, now sit at the ends of the Rapid 800 and Rapid 837 lines, and each carries overhead pantograph equipment that feeds a bus when it returns to the stop.

The charging network starts at CapMetro's main depot, where partner Camber Charging supplied and installed two 1,440 kW systems. Those feed 48 industrial dispensers, for a depot total of 2.9 MW, sized to charge up to 48 electric buses at once overnight. The two new terminals extend that network outward, along the routes themselves.

Andy Skabowski, CapMetro's chief operations officer and executive vice president, described what changes when a charger sits at the end of a line. "Instead of a typical bus holding 8 hours of charging, on-route charging takes that out to 20 to 22 hours," he said. "Every time that pantograph drops, we charge that bus. That's what makes a commitment like (every) 10- to 15-minute service possible."

The buses themselves are built on New Flyer's Xcelsior battery-electric transit platform. New Flyer says the platform can offer up to 660 kWh of available capacity, and the vehicles deliver up to 320 all-electric horsepower, with full torque at 0 rpm. CapMetro did not include battery specifications in its release.

Camber Charging also handles preventive maintenance, charger and energy management software, and remote diagnostics across all three sites: the main depot, Goodnight Ranch, and Expo Center. Goodnight Ranch and Expo Center were announced in June and are now open.