Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (The Ride)

Bus Propulsion Study
Project name Bus Propulsion Study
Client name Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (AAATA)/TheRide, Ann Arbor Michigan,  United States
The Client The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority/TheRide operates the public transit system for the greater Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area. For more than 50 years, TheRide has provided reliable, safe, affordable transportation services to the community.
Product or services provided ZET Advisory

BetterFleet

 Client industry Transit Agency
The Brief AAATA/TheRide has retained Evenergi to conduct an impartial review of bus propulsion technologies. The outcome of the study seeks a balanced review of propulsion options available in the marketplace evaluating benefits, downfalls, risks, and costs to AAATA/TheRide. Our scope includes reviewing Battery Electric Buses, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Buses, Trolley Buses and Compressed Natural Gas for their applicability in Ann Arbor.
The Approach Our scope of work includes documenting the existing situation and benefits, an assessment of all propulsion technologies (ZEB and ICE), infrastructure planning, financial planning (capital and operations) and emissions modelling.

Evenergi is using BetterFleet™ to undertake predictive modeling and analysis. To complete our work, we are: 

  1. Completing a global best practices review of other transit agencies that have transitioned to zero emission buses; 
  2. Completing a risk assessment and risk register of transitioning to zero emission bus technologies, along with risk mitigation strategies where warranted;   
  3. Modeling AAATA’s routes and blocks to determine the pass/fail rates of various ZEB technologies to identify their ability to electrify the agency’s service;  
  4. Modeling the state of charge impacts based on agreed worst case scenarios, such as route detours, high passenger loading and temperature extremes (extreme cold in Michigan particularly); 
  5. Completing emissions modelling to determine how greenhouse gases are reduced by a switch to zero emission bus technologies.
Outcome Preliminary modeling shows that only 60% of AAATA’s service can be electrified using battery electric buses with depot-only charging; that success rate increases to 95% with hydrogen fuel cell electric buses. The project is still ongoing and will be completed in February 2022.








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