DTA Continues to Monitor Progress on New Electric Buses

The DTA purchased 7 new electric buses in the Fall of 2018.

DULUTH, Minn.- DTA officials are continuing efforts to fix issues with their 7 new electric buses, an investment costing nearly 10 million dollars to get them on the streets last Fall.

Since they were primarily funded by a federal grant, the buses were tracked carefully throughout Winter.

Officials found that an average battery for the electric buses will only last 8 hours- that’s half the time diesel buses are able to run in a day.

The electric buses are low energy and low emission, but are not as cost efficient as the diesel buses.

“Apollo didn’t go to the moon on the first Apollo 1, it wasn’t until much later. We’ve had a few little things here and there, but we’re working through them, we’re tracking them to help progress the knowledge of the industry with these buses because we share with other transit systems nationwide,” DTA general Manager Phil Pumphrey said.

The DTA says people like the different design the electric buses have and that they’re quieter than diesel buses.

They’re going to continue monitoring the progress of the 7 buses they have for several years before considering buying more.