Wichita to operate the first electric buses in Kansas

Wichita is set to begin operation of the state of Kansas’ first electric buses with the goal of saving money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The first bus is expected to be rolled out in November 2019, with an additional ten planned to come into service in 2020, according to the local public radio KCUR. The city’s transit director, Mike Tann, won a $2 million federal grant that allowed the city to purchase four new electric buses from manufacturer ProTerra.

“The ultimate goal is to get people to use the system because they want to,” Tann said. “And electrifying it seems to get people thinking about it and it also gets us off the fossil fuels too.”

Wichita Transit has also remodelled its bus station with the installation of 14 e-bus chargers. The buses are planned to run for approximately 150 miles on one charge. The agency estimates each electric bus will run for 12 years and save the city $462,000 in that time compared to its diesel counterpart.

In Wichita, Tann estimates that every diesel bus in the fleet will be replaced by an electric- or hydrogen-powered bus by 2027.