The challenge
Transportation is responsible for 42% of community greenhouse gas emissions in Raleigh, making it critical to the state’s climate action strategy.
The solution
We supported the implementation of GoRaleigh’s Transit Fleet Electrification Pilot to continue the transition away from fossil-fueled buses.
The impact
The facility’s charging infrastructure and management software enables the pilot’s BEBs and continues Raleigh’s sustainable transportation transition.
25,000
metric tons of net greenhouse gas emissions reduced by initial 71 compressed natural gas buses alone
250,000
gallons of diesel fuel purchases avoided (for initial 71 compressed natural gas buses alone)
The challenge
In 2019, Raleigh’s City Council established a goal of reducing community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Given that almost half of the City's total GHG emissions come from transportation, the GoRaleigh public transit system is working toward meeting the City’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by transitioning its entire fleet of 115 buses made up of 80% renewable compressed natural gas buses (CNG) and 20% battery-electric buses (BEB). So far, since 2019, Arcadis has supported GoRaleigh’s deployment of 71 CNG buses and the start of a pilot in 2022 with five BEBs.
The solution
Our planning, design and deployment services supported the GoRaleigh Transit Fleet Electrification Pilot. We upgraded GoRaleigh’s existing operating facility infrastructure to add on-site charging for the pilot’s battery-electric buses while maintaining its capacity to support the fleet’s other buses. During the assessment phase, our experts considered the facility’s limitations, details of the bus service, and charging requirements for GoRaleigh’s service blocks using our sophisticated SparkFleet BEB energy usage modeling software.
The BEB charging infrastructure, utility grid connection upgrades, and charging management system were all designed to support the pilot buses and to be the foundation for future expansion to support an increasingly larger zero-emission bus fleet. Following approval of our design plans, we provided management services that supported the procurement, installation, and testing of the BEB chargers, their supporting electrical infrastructure, and the charging management system.
In 2018, Arcadis participated in the initial stage of the fleet transition away from diesel buses by designing a new CNG fuel station to accommodate adding CNG buses to the fleet. These are now serving as bridge technology during the incremental transition towards a fleet fully comprised of CNG buses and zero-emission BEBs. Our design services in this earlier fleet transition stage also included fuel management system integration, building automation controls, data communications with the City’s network, and coordination with utility providers.
The impact
Sustainability is a cornerstone of Raleigh's vision for the future, with alternative-fueled vehicles helping the City make substantial steps in reducing its GHG emissions.
Now completely operational, the pilot provided initial hardware and software infrastructure that has enabled the BEB component for the ongoing GoRaleigh fleet transition. The pilot will contribute to the City's goal of reducing community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
