AUSTIN – On Monday, Capital Metro announced its plan to build a new, electric bus charging facility.

  • Agency to build electric bus charging center
  • Capable of charging more than 200 buses

The facility, stationed off Burnet at the transit agency’s northern depot, will be capable of charging more than 200 buses, roughly half of the current size of the fleet.

Advocates like the Texas Public Interest Research Group and the Texas Electric Transportation Resources Alliance applauded the move. Capital Metro will also consider a proposal to buy electric buses today for the first time in its history. The new buses, likely manufactured by Proterra, will be the first of their ilk to grace the streets of Austin.

Research from TexPIRG shows that over the lifetime of the electric bus, CapMetro can save roughly $200,000 per electric bus compared to a diesel one. An electric bus has 90 percent fewer moving pieces than a traditional combustion engine, making it less likely to need service or parts replacement.

The cost of charging an electric bus is lower than the price of diesel.

Cities across the nation have noticed the benefits of electric buses on air quality, public health, and transit agency budgets and have started to make the change. Los Angeles has committed to transition 100 percent of its fleet to electric by the year 2030.