Oslo To Replace Almost All Diesel Buses With Electric Buses By Year’s End

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Norway makes no apology for its push to electrify its transportation sector as quickly as possible. It currently has the highest percentage of new EV sales of any country in the world and is rapidly replacing the gasoline- and diesel-powered cars on its road with zero emissions vehicles. Its clean transportation initiative includes the public sector as well, as Oslo and other Norwegian cities covert their public transportation systems to electric buses.

Oslo Has Bold Emissions Reduction Plans

The city of Oslo is leading the way to lower emissions in Norway. It plans to slash carbon emissions by 95% compared to 2009 levels before the end of this decade. A major component of that plan is to electrify everything.

Einar Wilhelmsen, a member of the Green Party and the finance minister for Oslo, told the Nordic EV conference in December, 2021, “It is important that we stop selling fossil cars. That process must be turned off completely. It is clear that we will struggle to get rid of every fossil car sold now, so this should simply not happen anymore.”

The Oslo City Council plans to create a zero emissions zone in the center of the city where only electric vehicles will be permitted, a policy initiative that will encourage people to buy electric cars. In coming years, that zone will be expanded to cover more of the city. The city does not intend to ban the sale of gasoline- and diesel-powered cars and trucks because it believes those zero emissions zones will accomplish that goal without resorting to mandates.

Buses, Ferries, & Ice Rinks!

Norway has thousands of lakes, rivers, and fjords. Often, a ferry can shorten a trip by several hours. Today every ferry serving the islands in and around Oslo is powered by batteries. By the end of this year, every city bus in the Ruter network will be electric, with a few minor exceptions.

Oslo’s fleet of municipal vehicles is shifting to electric vehicles as well. “We are almost finished replacing the municipality’s car fleet with electric cars on the passenger car front and now we are focusing on electric vans as well,” Wilhelmsen said. “We have a total of around 1300 municipal cars, and 70 to 80 percent of them are already electric.”

“We even have electrified the ice machines that make ice at our skating rinks. In addition, when we make agreements with large suppliers, we require them to use zero emission vehicles to transport them. All this means that, for the municipality’s part, we will soon have completely stopped using diesel and petrol. It’s a new era. We hardly need fossil fuels anymore. This is actually quite extraordinary,” he added.

183 Electric Buses In April

Last April, Oslo public transit operator Unibuss took delivery of 183 articulated electric buses manufactured by Solaris. The $100 million contract was the largest order in the company’s history up to that date. Those electric buses will serve the most heavily traveled routes in the Oslo area — routes 20, 21, 31, and 37 — which combined provide transportation for over 150,000 commuters every day.

The addition of the Solaris articulated buses moved Oslo closer to having a fully emissions-free public transportation system four years sooner than expected “We have just completed deliveries of the largest contract for electric buses in the history of our company. The fact that they will be driving on the streets of Oslo, a city that will soon have a completely emissions free public transport system, is a special reason for us to be proud. Thank you Unibuss AS for your trust!,” said Sverre Skaar, managing director of Solaris Norge said after the buses were delivered.

Now that those buses have been in service for about 6 months, Unibuss says that reduced fuel and maintenance costs should offset their higher cost in about 10 years time. In the meantime, riders get to enjoy a quieter, more comfortable ride without a cloud of diesel emissions trailing along behind.

There have been few issues with the electric buses. Initially, before drivers became familiar with operating them, they ran out of battery power a few times. They also experienced traction problems on steep hills when the road were covered in slush. The buses are heavy, but the extra weight is not necessarily located over the drive axle to give them better traction when the going gets slippery.

The secret seems to be to start with a few new buses so the drivers and the public can adjust to them before switching the entire fleet to battery power.

One bit of good news is that Unibuss has found it needs fewer chargers than expected. Electric buses today have larger batteries than they did when the first of them were delivered in 2017. That means they have longer range and can charge faster than before, which has eliminated the need to charge along a given route. All charging is now done at a terminal.

137 More Electric Buses

Ruter, the public transportation operator for Oslo, announced this week that it expects to take delivery of 137 more electric buses before the end of December, 2023. That will make its bus fleet almost 100% electric 4 years ahead of the company’s initial schedule. There are few routes that have bridges that are not rated for the extra weight of large battery-powered vehicles, which will require about a dozen diesel buses to remain in service.

A Personal Experience

I have not been to Oslo, although there is a plan in the works to do so next summer. But I did get to ride in a battery-electric bus on Martha’s Vineyard in August. It just so happened that I was on a bus between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown when I noticed how quiet it was. When it slowed, it went into regen mode just the way my Model Y and Chevy Bolt do. When I got off, I confirmed it was electric and took a few photos.

On the way back to Oak Bluffs, I rode in a conventional diesel-powered bus. What a difference, and not in a good way! Listening to the roar of the engine and the squeal of brakes jangled my nerves and interfered with my enjoyment of the scenery along the way.

If you go to Martha’s Vineyard, get the one-day pass for $8 and make sure to get on the electric buses if you can. It will make your visit so much more pleasant!

Thanks and tip of the hat to Are Hansen, the head of the CleanTechnica newsroom in Norway!