Capital Metro announced a partnership with Camber, a mobility infrastructure company, to power its electric bus fleet as part of a nearly $4.3 million contract, according to a Feb. 27 news release.
Camber is a California-based company that provides electric vehicle charging services, such as charging equipment and its installation, according to the company’s website. Under the partnership, Camber installed a series of charging systems and energy dispensers that will provide 2.9 megawatts of energy, which can charge up to 48 CapMetro electric buses simultaneously, according to the news release.
“We’re excited to expand our partnership with CapMetro and help electrify its bus fleet, ensuring more Texans have access to clean, reliable and affordable public transit options,” Camber president Brendan Harney said in the news release.
The CapMetro Board of Directors approved an agreement in fall 2021 to buy 197 electric buses in an amount “not to exceed” almost $255 million over the course of five years, according to an adopted agenda item. This purchase was part of Project Connect, a city effort to expand transportation options and construct a light rail. However, the bus electrification goal was delayed until now because of industry-wide battery technology challenges, according to a June 2024 CapMetro Board of Directors meeting.
Blythe Nebeker, CapMetro interim communications and public information manager, said in an email the agency began using some net-zero emission vehicles in 2020, but wants to transition to a net-zero emission bus fleet by 2040 with the new charging infrastructure.
“To meet our Net Zero Carbon by 2040 goal, CapMetro is working to reduce emissions, use renewable energy and implement other methods to prevent or remove emissions in the atmosphere,” Nebeker said. “By transitioning our fleet to zero emissions instead of using diesel buses, it is helping us reach that goal.”
Transportation engineering professor Randy Machemehl said that in comparison to diesel-powered buses, electric ones are more environmentally friendly because they release zero emissions.
“What comes out the tailpipe of the diesel-powered bus is a combination of a number of different, but very bad pollutants,” Machemehl said. “As far as local pollution is concerned, you’re really comparing zero against a pretty big number.”
Lance Bolastig, a medical laboratory sciences senior, said he looks forward to the electrification of CapMetro buses.
“I rode one of the electric buses they have and they’re really nice,” Bolastig said. “If they could all be upgraded to that, that’d be really cool.”
Although electric buses release zero emissions, Machemehl said the most common batteries to power electric buses at the moment are lithium-ion. The mining and disposal process of these batteries produces more greenhouse emissions than gasoline-powered vehicles, according to the Institute for Energy Research. Machemehl said there could be a more efficient battery to replace the lithium-ion one eventually.
“What’s really going to happen in the not-too-distant future (is) we’re going to have some new battery types and those battery types will mean that these electric vehicles will be cheaper, they will charge faster,” Machemehl said. “If you change battery type and have a battery that has greater energy density, that is more power per unit of size. That’s gonna help make it more desirable.”
