Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority unveiled their first of 10 electric buses coming to Buffalo this year.
"We are going to electrify the transit bus industry," said New York State Senator Tim Kennedy. "NFTA is leading the charge and is ahead of the game right here today, the first of 10 new electric buses that are going to be out in the community."
"A lot of what we did focused around clean green energy, the environment and making sure that not only are we investing into the future generations, but transforming the industry on the ground level so that these old diesel buses that are in the streets, polluting our communities are taken off the streets and replaced with clean green electric vehicles and removed from the fossil fuel footprint entirely," said Senator Kennedy.
Legislation has been signed in New York State that phases out gas-powered vehicles by 2035 and promotes electric school buses. "New York State is leading the nation. We just passed a $4.2 billion environmental bond act here in the state of New York. Half a billion dollars is dedicated to the electrification of the school bus industry," adds the Senator.
The NFTA received a grant of $3 million dollars early last year approved by National Grid for their electric project operating at Cold Springs Garage, "That grant was because of a $5.1 million allocation from New York State to support make-ready electrical vehicle charging infrastructure for buses, not only here, but in Albany as well," said Melanie Littlejohn, New York State Director of Corporate Affairs from National Grid. "But here in Buffalo, the grant will support that upgrade of in NFTA's electric delivery service to 23,000 volts. This will provide the required electric capacity to charge in NFTA electric buses on a daily basis."
The New York Power Authority is managing an overhead charger for the buses that will charge 50 buses at once, "We are leading the construction of the first fully-electric depot overhead bus charging system in New York," said Vice President of e-Mobility of the New York Power Authority, Fabio Mantovani. "This is going to be able to charge 50 buses at once so we are really future-proofing."
The NFTA comments that the approximate cost of this overhead charger is $350,000.
The ten buses will cost $10.1 million dollars and are expected to be delivered later this year and there is an option for the NFTA to purchase an additional 140 buses over a five-year period.
To listen to the full conference, click the link in the player below: