Xpress tells me Asheville’s electric buses are deployed primarily to the airport and Long Shoals Road and were considered for Black Mountain; and as as a moderate on the use of electric vehicles (with some knowledge), I feel that electric vehicles should be kept within cities as much as practical because they are at their best in urban gridlock and upwind of downtown (the W6, W5 or N3 routes?).
Plus, fleet operations, especially city fleets, are best for this because fleet managers can assign fossil vehicles to long-range jobs, unlike personal car owners. Asheville’s hills and love affair with clutch-burning four-way stop signs also help tip the balance toward electrics, but even so, I’m not sure Asheville is quite big or smoggy enough to make them worthwhile here quite yet, as bigger cities should get them first.
The fact that our electricity is part nuclear, while petroleum and home coal stoves aren’t, should also slow us down a great deal on electrification. Space permitting, electric buses in theory are range constrained, but these particular buses don’t seem to be, though this might change as batteries age.
— Alan Ditmore
Leicester
