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TTC: Electric and alternative fuel buses

steveintoronto said:
Which again asks questions as to how the *commercial regs* will also be impacted by Dougie's dog biscuits...?
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steveintoronto said:
How easy is it to drive a Ford to Waterloo? And I don't mean the city in Ontario...
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One shoe has dropped for residential, as I had wondered. The real question for this string is whether the subsidies for commercial and industrial installations will also be affected?
[...]
The Ontario government has scrapped incentives for buyers of electric vehicles and charging stations as well as hydrogen-powered cars.

The cancellation of the program, which provided rebates of up to $14,000 for buyers of the vehicles and $1,000 toward purchases of charging stations, came after the new Progressive Conservative government of Premier Doug Ford ended the province’s cap-and-trade program.
[...]
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https://www.theglobeandmail.com/bus...raps-rebates-for-buyers-of-electric-vehicles/
 
From the August 2018 CEO Report, downloadable from this link:

Electric Buses (60 eBuses)

As of August 16th, 2018, we now have confirmed delivery dates for both New Flyer and BYD buses. Both will begin delivery in Q1 2019. New Flyer will complete delivery of the first 10 buses by end of March 2019, and BYD will complete delivery of its first 10 buses by end of April 2019. Negotiations with Proterra continue and are expected to be concluded by the end of September 2018. Weekly meetings with all three bus OEMs are ongoing to monitor and progress the works on the vehicle stream of this project.​

Infrastructure

TTC has been working closely with our utility partner, Toronto Hydro, to implement the required charging infrastructure. Toronto Hydro, released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the final design and infrastructure works on June 18th. The RFP was to close by August 17th, however this has been extended to August 30th due to delays to the completion of the service agreement between Toronto Hydro and TTC. Selection of the winning bidder is now set for mid-September, and Notice to Proceed in the third week of September.

Electrical and civil work along with the installation of energy storage and charging equipment needs to be complete prior to receiving the buses and so eBus deliveries have been staggered to allow for completion of work at each of the three home garages. The risk that the infrastructure works schedule will slip beyond the delivery dates of the buses at each garage remains, but the risk is highest for Arrow Road Garage.

Immediate Next Steps

TTC Staff will continue working closely with New Flyer, BYD, and Proterra with the aim to finalize designs of bus elements with longer lead items. Staff will also continue to work towards finalizing the contract with Proterra. Configuration decisions for Proterra buses will be made and staff will be attending a pre-production meeting with Proterra in mid-September. For infrastructure works, TTC and Toronto Hydro expect to finalize their agreement by the end of September 2018 following which TTC staff will participate in Toronto Hydro’s RFP process for the evaluation of the proposals. The stream of work that aims to prepare the organization for this transformational technology is now ramping up with plans set for change management, training, service planning, etc.​
 
Reecemartin said:
TLDR: BYD seems to be worse at building North American Electric Buses than Bombardier is at building Streetcars. . .
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Just like BBD the folly is to force a company to open up a new plant to build anything. BYD has built thousands of electric buses and have a process that works in Shenzhen. And yet we insist on Buy America/Buy Ontario clauses that mean we are going with an untested assembly process.

kEiThZ said:
Proterra is the gold standard for electric buses. I hope the TTC picks them eventually.
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A new plant will have growing pains. Proterra had headlights blow off in the wind, windows crack and worst of all a bus go from park to drive by itself a couple of years ago. I hope they fixed these things!

Regardless of which we chose in the long run I do hope we use an assembly plant that is tested vs some untested Made in Ontario plant.
 
muller877 said:
A new plant will have growing pains. Proterra had headlights blow off in the wind, windows crack and worst of all a bus go from park to drive by itself a couple of years ago. I hope they fixed these things!
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The early Proterra EcoRide did have its share of problems. Hopefully these have been addressed in the next-generation Catalyst. Foothill Transit took delivery of these in 2015 and 2017. I haven't heard of any issues with them so far. A number of other operators have since purchased the Catalyst too—the latest being Edmonton.
 
Now for the lighter fun side.

From link.

Hacked Prius Running on MUNI Power Lines — The Bold Italic — San Francisco

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A couple months ago I was walking out of Golden Gate Park onto Fulton around 8th Avenue. I stepped onto the sidewalk just in time to see a Prius roll by with a pair of giant antennae mounted on the roof. At first I thought it was just some kind of art-car getup, but then I realized the antennae was the same power pole doodad that MUNI buses use (I later learned they’re called “trolley poles”). Not only that, they were actually running along the overhead power cables for the 5 line. The driver cruised past with a high-pitched humming noise as I stood there thinking, “No. Fucking. Way.”

Two weeks ago I was in the Safeway parking lot at 16th and Bryant when I saw the driver again. This time I was on my motorcycle and happened to have my camera. I snapped a few shots as he passed the bus stop, then jumped on my bike and followed him east on 16th. I caught up to him a few blocks later at Kansas. Before I even dropped into first gear I could hear Foghat blaring out the windows, “Sloow riide, take it easy…”...
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CEO report for October
New Flyer and BYD will begin delivery in Q1 2019. New Flyer will complete delivery of the first 10 buses by end of March 2019, and BYD will complete delivery of its first 10 buses by end of April 2019. Proterra will begin delivery in June and complete deliveries in July 2019. The signed contract with Proterra and final bus configuration/design are now expected by mid-October 2018
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So yesterday (Thurs) I saw what was by all appearances a TTC liveried XCelsior Charge westbound on the 401 around Markham Rd. Any confirmation they are starting to be delivered? The rear electronic sign was set to read "HEV", which suggests a hybrid, but do we even have XCelsior hybrids ordered (I know a lot of the 2019 order is hybrid, but did they go with the new model as well)?

Thoughts?
 
Bureaucromancer said:
So yesterday (Thurs) I saw what was by all appearances a TTC liveried XCelsior Charge westbound on the 401 around Markham Rd. Any confirmation they are starting to be delivered? The rear electronic sign was set to read "HEV", which suggests a hybrid, but do we even have XCelsior hybrids ordered (I know a lot of the 2019 order is hybrid, but did they go with the new model as well)?

Thoughts?
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The Canadian Transit Show is next week. Perhaps it was a demo bus you saw. The TTC is also currently taking delivery of hybrid buses from Nova Bus.
 
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