BYD announced that Howard County Transit, a division of the Regional Transit Authority of Central Maryland (RTA), received delivery of three, 35-foot BYD K9S battery-electric, zero-emission buses.

A cutting-edge inductive charging station will be installed on the Green Line in downtown Columbia, Md., one of America’s most successful planned communities. As the bus drives over this and pauses, this system will give the batteries a quick boost of energy through electromagnetic induction, all without making any direct contact with the bus. The buses can also be plugged in to charge fully before and after service. Combining inductive and plug-in charging, the buses have the range to complete any route in the Howard County system.

The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) will evaluate the energy efficiency and cost effectiveness of the all-electric bus program. The project is funded by the Federal Transit Administration through the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction Program.

“I want to congratulate Howard County on being the first to bring green bus transportation to the state of Maryland,” said Macy Neshati, sr. VP at BYD Heavy Industries. “We know this was the right choice for Howard County, as it is for so many communities across the country, and we look forward to the real-world data that CTE’s study produces on the effectiveness of battery-electric bus technology.”

The BYD K9S 35-foot bus has a range of 161 miles on a single charge.