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L.A. Metro Now Running all Zero-Emission Electric Buses on the G (Orange) Line in the San Fernando Valley
October 13, 2021
In a major clean air milestone for the Los Angeles region, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) announces the successful completion of its transition to an all-electric bus fleet on the popular Metro G (Orange) Line in the San Fernando Valley, offering Metro customers a non-polluting, quiet and ultra-smooth riding experience.
Metro has phased out its legacy 60-foot articulated compressed natural gas (CNG) buses on the G Line — the type that has run on the dedicated Bus Rapid Transit line since it opened in October 2005 — and replaced them with 40 brand new, 60-foot articulated zero-emissions buses manufactured by New Flyer. Called Excelsior Charge NG, the buses feature zero-tailpipe emissions, employ advanced electric technologies such as high-energy batteries and traction propulsion system. Rapid en-route chargers installed at North Hollywood, Canoga and Chatsworth Stations give the buses an all-day operating capability along the 18-mile corridor. Buses have about a 150-mile range on a single charge even without rapid charging.
The new electric buses contribute to Metro’s equity goals to help reduce disparities in access to opportunity, including health outcomes, in key communities along the bus corridor. Of the G Line’s 36 stops, for example, 20 (or 55 percent) are directly located in or adjacent to Equity Focus Communities across North Hollywood, Valley Village, Van Nuys, Lake Balboa, Reseda, and Canoga Park.
Metro first began converting its bus fleet to electric buses in July 2020. Since completing its transition from CNG to electricity earlier this year, Metro has officially logged an impressive 900,000 miles on the electric buses.
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Metro’s electric buses cost $1.15 million each. The project includes the deployment of the electric buses and associated charging equipment and infrastructure improvements. The total cost of buses, equipment and improvements is $80 million.
Great video on the environmental harm caused by GM, they helped develop leaded gasoline which caused all sorts of mental and behavioral issues in humans and is directly linked to crime rate in many countries, and is linked to 25 million deaths in the US alone. But they weren't done, after releasing leaded gasoline they then developed Freon, which is an insanely potent greenhouse gas, and it also destroys the Ozone in the stratosphere leading to the creation of the Ozone Hole in the Southern Hemisphere. Wow leaded gasoline, and the Ozone Hole!? Thanks, GM!
The only way a school district could transition over to EV buses is to do it over time, LOTS of time...perhaps 5 - 10 or maybe even more years. there is no way a district would be able to layout for the exorbitant cost of EV busses. So as their buses age out, the district would have to plan years in advance for the budget to pay for these things. Even with diligent planning, if 10 buses age out in a given year, there is no way a district could replace all 10 with an equivalent EV bus at the current price differential. Also... a district would need time and, again, money to install the needed infrastructure to support an EV fleet. If a district runs 200 buses how many charging stations would they need? lol
Oh for sure it would take a long time to get there, no way any district is going to lay out that kind of cash for a full EV fleet overnight.
That said schools around the country have very different budgets. There are some districts here who have so much cash on hand due to the insane property taxes that they could most definitely shift to EV if they wanted to and I'm guessing they will once some larger vendors start offering busses.
SAN FRANCISCO — As we rounded the corner, a man waved us down. He’d seen the van silently driving around the neighborhood all morning and wanted to know where he can get one. “It’s an EV,” I told him and his excitement grew.
“It’s exactly what I need,” he exclaimed as he pulled a card out of his wallet to hand to my copilot with the expectation that BrightDrop would call him with details about ordering his own electric delivery van. In a larger sense, FedEx, Verizon and Walmart looked at the BrightDrop Zevo 600 (formerly the EV600) electric delivery van and also decided, “This is exactly what we need.”
We pulled away and he shouted that his plumber friend was also interested in the Zevo 600. It’s not hard to see why. While behind the wheel, the Zevo 600 impressed with the fit and finish and attention to detail of the delivery van made by GM-owned BrightDrop that boasts the same Ultium battery technology as the Hummer EV, Cadillac Lyriq and Chevrolet Silverado EV. BrightDrop notes that while designing the van, it interviewed not just fleet managers and companies, but also drivers.
The result is a workhorse of a vehicle that includes features to reduce fatigue, an incredible amount of visibility thanks to huge windows, motion-sensor lighting, 250 miles of range and a very impressive one-pedal driving system.
Some of these came into play as we drove the Zevo 600 through the narrow streets of San Francisco. Navigating the city’s hectic roadways is difficult in a passenger vehicle, and a large van requires, well, more everything. The Zevo 600 deftly handled the plethora of situations with ease.
The steering lacks any of the play found in older vans. It’s consistent and smooth. Acceleration is uniform and devoid of any weird torque surprises. Neck-snapping launches may be great in a passenger vehicle, but in a delivery van, they mean a landslide of boxes tumbling off shelves.
The van’s dual-motor all-wheel-drive system has 300 horsepower and 390 pound-feet of torque. The city is no place to drag race a delivery van, but in a short time behind the wheel, it sure seemed like the Zevo 600 would have any issue climbing San Francisco’s abundance of steep grades.
Most impressive, though, is the one-pedal driving. Within two blocks I could lift the accelerator pedal and accurately hit the mark at stop signs. At that point, the brake pedal was unused for the remaining 90% of the drive.
Yet it’s important to note our drive was in an empty van. The 600 cubic feet of cargo space was not filled with as much as 2,200 pounds of payload the Zevo 600 can handle. When it is filled, though, BrightDrop says its van can cover as many as 250 miles between charges based on a Society of Automotive Engineers' (SAE) standard — there’s no EPA requirement for Class 2b and Class 3 vehicles.
That 250 miles of range is double the offering from Ford’s electric E-Transit van. BrightDrop says hitting that larger figure was important in keeping the van in service in varying types of terrain, weather and driving habits. The company also wants to get ahead of any potential battery degradation. Of course, it’s also a huge selling point for anxious companies.
“It is bigger than your average route by quite a bit. But certainly for an early adopter market, when you're betting your entire infrastructure on the dependability of these vehicles, it is the right thing to do,” said Rachad Youseef, chief product officer of BrightDrop.
The range also allows for multiple delivery shifts. Instead of charging a vehicle after one shift, it could be redeployed after a driver change without needing to sit idle while charging. Time is money, after all. Youseef expects that, in the future, companies will order vehicles with lower range figures as they get up to speed on how these delivery vans will be used in their fleets. A smaller battery means less money and weight.
Estimating the efficiency, though, requires some work, as BrightDrop would not share battery capacity information. That’s not too surprising considering GM’s reticence to disclose the gross capacity of the Hummer EV. What we do know is that it uses 20 Ultium modules. Meanwhile, the Hummer EV uses 24 of those modules.
Some quick math based on EPA paperwork shows the usable capacity of the Hummer EV is 212.7 kilowatt-hours. Based on that figure, the usable capacity of each Ultium module is about 8.9 kWh. With 20 modules onboard, the Zevo 600 has an approximate usable capacity of 178 kWh, although it might be a little higher based on its charge rates. To keep it on the road, the van has onboard AC charging that supports 11.5 kW, and can support DC fast-charging up to 120 kW. In the best-case charging scenario, BrightDrop says the vehicle can charge from 0-100% in 1 hour, 40 minutes.
What is interesting is that the Zevo 600 was actually the first Ultium-based GM vehicle to hit public roads. While it uses the same electrical architecture as the Hummer, the Zevo 600 beat the gigantic electric truck to the streets.
Of course, the Zevo 600 is plenty large in its own right. The cargo area and pass-through from the cab are tall enough to accommodate a 6-foot, 3-inch frame without issue or, more importantly, ducking at any point. This is consistent with modern, high-roof vans like the Ford Transit and Mercedes Sprinter. The steps to enter the vehicle are also deeper than usual and ready to accommodate a full boot.
As you enter the cargo area, motion-activated LEDs illuminate the space. Those sensors also play an important role in the security of cargo. They’re used in a locked vehicle to set off the van’s alarm and notify the driver via a companion app when tripped.
In-van tech also includes some familiar displays. The infotainment system and dash cluster displays have a layout in keeping with the Hummer EV since both run the Android Automotive OS. BrightDrop notes the current look will likely be replaced in the future with displays specific to the Zevo 600.
Overall, the Zevo 600 feels like an EV delivery van that should make both customer companies and their drivers happy to make the transition to electric vehicles. It’s impressive, considering that GM states that the Zevo 600 was developed in just 20 months. As such, it’s the quickest concept-to-commercialization vehicle in GM history. Yet it seems to be making an impression.
According to BrightDrop, 25,000 reservations have been made in the past year. Customers including FedEx, Walmart and Verizon are waiting for their vans, and the current low-volume production will be replaced with full production at GM’s CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, in the fourth quarter of this year.
This should be good news not just to those large corporations, but also to folks who are happy to wave down an electric van they’ve never seen before because it’s exactly what they need.
General Motors Co's Cruise has started charging fares for driverless rides in San Francisco, the company said on Thursday, a step towards commercialization of the service.
Cruise earlier this month became the first company to secure a permit to charge for self-driving car rides in the U.S. city, after it overcame objections by local officials.
Self-driving test cars with human safety drivers have become a constant sight in San Francisco, and completely driverless ones are increasingly common too. Turning them into a fledgling business in a major U.S. city marks a milestone in the long, delayed journey toward driverless taxi service.
The fared driverless rides are currently taking place in the northwest third of the city, the self-driving tech firm said on Thursday, adding that it would expand the service.
Last of the big-box American-style cargo and passenger vans, the Chevrolet Express and its badge-engineered GMC Savana clone finally will be discontinued after the 2025 model year, with battery-electric vans replacing them in the 2026 model year, according to a competitive analysis source.
The Zevo 600 has cargo capacity of “more than 600 cubic feet,” while the current Chevy Express/GMC Savana has capacity of 284.4 cubic-feet for the long-wheelbase version.
BrightDrop delivered its first 150 Zevo delivery vans to Federal Express last week. Un-sexy as this part of the EV business is, it’s huge, with perhaps the best potential to quickly get the automotive business out of carbon-spewing internal-combustion engines. FedEx plans to eventually have 2500 BrightDrop vans in its fleet, on the way to an all-electric vehicle fleet by 2040.
The lame-duck GM van twins—their tooling long ago paid off—fall short of Ford and Ram competitors based on much fresher European styling—though the strategy to go directly from 35-year-old designs to EVs might prove smartest. The Chevy/GMC’s basic designs can be traced back to the 1971 model year, with an all-new model for 1997 and its last major update for 2003.
By comparison, the Ford Transit, with three roof height options, has cargo capacity of 246.7-542.2 cubic feet (excluding bare-chassis vans from any of these brands available with larger “cube” cargo boxes that cannot be accessed from the driver’s seat).
The BrightDrop Zevo 600’s range of 250 miles practically doubles the Ford E-Transit’s top-range of 126 miles on low-roof versions. The Zevo 600 can be recharged at the rate of 170 miles an hour using a 120-kilowatt fast charger.
Ford has delivered some 2022 E-Transits and says the average commercial customer drives 74 miles per day. The 2023 model is now available for order, with cargo and cutaway chassis cabs available.
The 2026 BV1 Chevy Express/GMC Savana replacements will add significant volume to GM’s Ultium battery platform—key to easing the cost of the new technology—while the E-Transit is based on the conventional gas-powered Transit van. Ford might not have that disadvantage for long: A dedicated battery-electric Ford E-Transit is expected about the 2027 model year, according to another source in competitive analysis. Stellantis’ Ram is expected to offer a ProMaster EV, also based on the current ICE model, about the 2024 model year.
What about window vans? The 2022 Chevy Express/GMC Savana can be configured for seating of up to 15, but there’s no intel, yet, that the BV1 will be available as a family bus. Another key segment for EV conversion—school buses—proves modern battery chemistry makes high-capacity EV passenger vehicles viable.
As a site for driving enthusiasts, we have to admit to a small bit of schadenfreude when the robots stumble in their inexorable march toward an autonomous future.
For some reason that may be known only to a line of code deep in their chassis, a number of GM Cruise autonomous vehicles — at least eight of them, from the looks of it — "decided" that they would all congregate on one street corner in San Francisco late Tuesday night. Were they planning to hit the bars after their shift ends? Plotting the robot revolution? Or was it just a strange glitch?
Cruise has been operating a robotaxi service in San Francisco, though the training wheels on the operation had only recently come off: Cruise went fully driverless with its commercial robotaxi service just a week or so ago. Its driverless operations are limited to between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., which explains why the Cruise caucus happened in the wee hours.
The cars all got together at Gough and Fulton Streets, not far from City Hall. And there they were stuck, for about two hours, blocking traffic, until they were either removed by human drivers or were electronically prodded to leave.
“We had an issue earlier this week that caused some of our vehicles to cluster together," a Cruise spokesperson said. "While it was resolved and no passengers were impacted, we apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced.”
The first electric delivery trucks rolled off production lines at BrightDrop's new factory in Canada on Monday, when the upstart unit of General Motors Co also announced DHL Express Canada as its first customer outside the United States.
GM spent seven months and more than $2 billion transforming its 2 million-square-foot CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, into Canada's first large-scale electric vehicle (EV) factory for BrightDrop Zevo delivery trucks. Before the switch, the site manufactured the gasoline-powered Chevy Equinox.
Opening the retooled plant "is a major step to providing EVs at scale," BrightDrop Chief Executive Travis Katz told Reuters prior to the event. He expects the facility to turn out 50,000 Zevo electric vans annually by 2025.
Its debut comes as GM's fast-growing commercial EV unit races rivals including Ford Motor Co, Rivian Automotive Inc, Stellantis and Arrival for dominance in the electric delivery truck market.
BrightDrop's relationship with GM gives it manufacturing and financial heft that several of its rival EV startups lack, experts said.
"That allows us to go faster," Katz said.
BrightDrop launched in 2021 and is forecast to reap its first $1 billion in sales next year, said Katz, who added that it took Tesla Inc a decade to hit the same milestone.
BrightDrop previously made vans in a temporary factory in Michigan. It already has delivered 150 electric trucks to package carrier FedEx Corp. The company's other U.S. customers include retailer Walmart Inc and communications provider Verizon Communications Inc.
Those companies and many others have set goals to replace gas-burning delivery trucks and service vehicles with zero-emissions alternatives over time.
DHL Express Canada's new relationship with BrightDrop "will help bring us closer to that target," CEO Andrew Williams said.
Last year, we heard from Apple about how the next generation of its CarPlay infotainment system would extend to other screens in the car and even have control of of other non media-related vehicle features. But in a blow to Apple at least one major automaker has opted out.
General Motors is to phase out the use of Apple CarPlay and its arch rival, Android Auto, from its cars. Existing vehicles will obviously retain the tech, but new electric models will switch to an integrated infotainment system developed with Google.
That’s according to Reuters, which says the first vehicle to benefit will be the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer. GM’s major motivation is to equip its electric cars, trucks and SUVs with tech that is capable of capturing more data that can be crunched to show how drivers use and charge their EVs. The new system has been in development since 2019 and is also designed to integrate with other sophisticated equipment on GM vehicles, including Super Cruise autonomous driving tech.
“We have a lot of new driver assistance features coming that are more tightly coupled with navigation,” Mike Himche, GM’s executive director of digital cockpit experience, told Reuters. “We don’t want to design these features in a way that are dependent on person having a cellphone.”
The new infotainment stack will also allow the company’s brands to roll out digital subscription services, which industry analysts say is going to a massive growth area and huge money-spinner for automakers in the coming years. GM’s own CEO, Mary Barra, has previously said she wants to see the company bringing in $20-25 billion in subscription revenue every year by 2030.
Reuters reports that GM’s new EVs will get the use of Google Maps and the company’s Google Assistant voice command system free for eight years, and will at least be able to make phone calls without paying extra, but other apps that we currently use through our phones, like Spotify and Audible, will be offered on a subscription basis.
If you don’t like the sound of any of that, you’ll have to steer clear of GM’s new electric models and pick one of the General’s combustion-powered cars instead. ICE models will continue to be offered with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and since GM hasn’t committed to phasing out combustion power on passenger vehicles until 2035, you’ve still got a few years left to bag one.
General Motors revived the Hummer brand as a sub-brand with the help of GMC. The biggest of the Big Three in Detroit is expected to do a similar thing with the Corvette in the guise of a sub-brand controlled by Chevrolet.
Why, though? The simplest of available answers is General Motors wants to increase the Corvette's appeal with at least one more addition in the form of an SUV. A sedan is rumored as well, and both siblings are reportedly getting a dedicated platform derived from the BEV3. This electric vehicle platform is referred to as BEV Prime, and the only plant where BEV Prime-based vehicles will be manufactured is Lansing Grand River.
The Michigan-based plant is currently tasked with making the Camaro, which is going the way of the dodo next year in favor of a yet-undisclosed electric vehicle. It also produces the CT4 and CT5 sedans from Cadillac. All three are underpinned by the Detroit-based automaker's Alpha platform. The only other plant that makes Alpha-based vehicles is Cadillac Jinqiao in Shanghai, China. Why is this information important?
Car & Driver understands that the Corvette SUV will be revealed this year with internal combustion rather than zero-emission propulsion, which is a little curious. An electric sibling is reportedly due later on. For starters, where is GM going to make BEV Prime-based EVs if the combustion-engined Corvette SUV will be produced at the Landing Grand River in the Camaro's place?
The inconsistencies don't end here, though. Two distinct models with two distinct powertrain solutions entail two platforms and two assembly plants, which is a very expensive undertaking. It wouldn't be all that crazy, though, given that crosstown rival Ford calls its Escape-based electric sport utility vehicle Mustang Mach-E. The cited publication also suggests two different combustion-engined Corvette SUVs, one designed to take on the Porsche Macan, and the other a bit closer in size to the Cayenne.
Expected to arrive at dealers in the latter half of 2024 as a 2025 model, the combustion-engined Corvette SUV will reportedly sell for around $60,000 for the Macan-sized variant. Car & Driver guesstimates a turbo four-cylinder lump as the base engine for the yet-unconfirmed model. Teased in all-electric attire during the CES 2021 GM keynote by vice president of global design Michael Simcoe, the Corvette SUV is also rumored with a twin-turbo V6. The Cayenne-sized variant is reportedly getting a naturally-aspirated V8 and a supercharged V8. The latter is estimated with 682 horsepower on deck, which is a perfect match for the LT4 small block in the Cadillac Escalade-V.
Only time will tell whether the combustion-engined Corvette SUV is under development or merely a pipe dream. On the other hand, there is confirmation in regard to an electric Corvette from EV sound development engineer Jay Kapadia. It's not clear whether this electric Corvette will arrive in the form of an SUV or sedan, but on the other hand, the sports car we all know and love will continue with good ol' V8 muscle and a mid-engine layout. The C9 will ride on a revised version of the Y2 platform, and the Stingray will employ a naturally-aspirated V8 from the Gen VI small-block family.
Back in January 2023, the peeps at General Motors committed $918 million for no fewer than four manufacturing sites. $854 million will be used to prepare these facilities for the sixth-generation small block, which is probably the final evolution of the small block because GM intends to sell only EVs by 2035.
General Motors and Honda Motor will no longer work together to develop affordable electric vehicles (EVs), scrapping a plan that was announced a little over a year ago, the Japanese automaker said today, according to Reuters.
The two companies have an agreement for the Ultium-based Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX SUVs, but last year’s collaboration was supposed to lead to the creation of several more affordable compact electric crossovers that would have been powered by GM’s Ultium batteries.
The first of these models was said to debut on the North American market in 2027 using a new, shared platform that would have taken advantage of all the know-how of both automakers, leading to improved vehicle quality and a boost in production speed. Some models were also slated to go on the global market, including South America and China.
Now, however, the plan has been ditched, with Honda saying that each of the two carmakers will continue to work on their own affordable EVs. "After conducting some research and analyses, both parties decided to end the development," the Japanese marque added.
In Q3, GM sold just 20,092 all-electric vehicles in the United States out of a total of over 670,000 vehicles. EV sales were up 21 percent compared to the same period last year, but even so, it’s disappointing to see one of the largest so-called legacy automakers struggle in the world of electric vehicles, especially considering that almost 16,000 of those 20,092 EVs sold in the previous quarter were the trusty Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV pair, which will be discontinued soon.
The impression was that GM will be making Honda's EVs for the time being since they don't have that expertise. So now GM has walked away, when will Honda start making them on their own?
So now GM has walked away, when will Honda start making them on their own?
Not sure how read that GM walked away - it seems to me that Honda was the one that did. They already make the Honda e for Europe so they already have some in house knowledge. Like other makers (Toyota), they may still be waiting out the market.
04-26-2022, 01:46 AM
