Calif.’s Antelope Valley Transit Authority’s (AVTA) electric buses accomplished another milestone, reaching the seven million electric mile mark.

As the first and largest all-electric local bus fleet in the nation, AVTA has been accumulating more electric miles daily. Since August, AVTA has been receiving and placing into service their zero-emissions, high-capacity commuter coaches from MCI. Over the next few weeks, AVTA will receive the 20 electric commuter coaches necessary to retire the remaining diesel commuter fleet. The agency’s growing all-electric fleet continues to add up the electric miles serving residents of the Antelope Valley around Lancaster, Palmdale, and the unincorporated portions of northern Los Angeles County such as Pearblossom, Littlerock, and Lake Los Angeles.

Since February 2016, when the AVTA board voted to award a contract to BYD to manufacture electric buses over a five-year period at BYD’s facility in Lancaster, the agency has been on the path to pioneering battery-electric bus transportation. The project has created a smarter, greener, and more interconnected transit system serving the Antelope Valley and areas extending south into the Los Angeles basin. By combining groundbreaking electric bus technology with wireless inductive charging technology, AVTA’s innovative bus project is the first of its kind in the nation.

AVTA Chairman of the Board Marvin Crist highlighted some of the benefits to the community and beyond that are a result of the electrification of AVTA’s fleet.

“In those seven million electric miles, approximately 1,750,000 gallons of diesel fuel have been saved,” said he explained. “That equates to a net savings of $2,362,500 in fuel costs after paying for electricity. Additionally, the seven million all-electric miles represent a carbon footprint reduction of more than 41.58 million pounds of CO2 and 130,900 pounds of particulate matter.”

AVTA operates 65 vehicles in their local fixed route fleet, all of which are zero-emission. Since August 2021, AVTA has been replacing their non-electric diesel commuter coaches with MCI D45 CRTe LE CHARGE battery-electric commuter coaches. The majority of AVTA’s electric fleet consists of BYD electric buses, manufactured in the Antelope Valley.