Twenty electric buses introduced for airside use at LAX

The new buses will replace older, diesel-operated buses and provide transportation for guests travelling between terminals and gates on Los Angeles International Airport’s (LAX) airfields. 

Switching 20 diesel-operated buses to battery-electric buses is projected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from 616,365 pounds per year (or 308 tonnes) of GHG per year to zero. That’s the equivalent of saving over 34,000 gallons of gasoline from being consumed or removing 66 conventional passenger vehicles from the road for an entire year. 

Electric buses provide substantial environmental benefits, which align with BOAC-approved updates to the LAX Alternative Fuel Vehicle Requirement (AFV requirement), previously approved in October 2017. The updated AFV requirement allows LAWA to take advantage of evolving technological developments in clean vehicles, which includes electric power. Electric buses will also help the city achieve goals set forth in Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Sustainable City pLAn,” by helping to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 45 per cent below 1990 baseline levels by 2025.

“With the introduction of these new electric buses, LAX will have the largest fleet of electric airfield buses at an airport in the world, transporting us to a cleaner and quieter busing future,” said Michael Christensen, Deputy Executive Director for Facilities Maintenance and Utilities Group, LAWA.

LAWA’s current airfield bus fleet consists of 26 buses: 14 diesel-fuelled buses that are over 20 years old and 12 CNG-fuelled, 60-foot articulating buses that are over 10 years old. The BOAC approval allows LAWA to replace all 14 diesel-fuelled buses with electric buses and add six electric buses to its airfield bus fleet for a total of 32 buses. The additional capacity will also prepare LAX for a projected 10 per cent increase in requests for airfield buses for this calendar year ahead of peak summertime demand.

The approved bid was submitted by BYD Coach and Bus LLC, with the total price for the new buses not to exceed $23,705,200.