AVTA puts electric support vehicles into service

LANCASTER – The Antelope Valley Transit Authority has placed into service four new battery-electric vehicles to support fixed route transit operations, the agency announced Thursday, Aug. 25. These all-electric 2023 Chevrolet Bolts were purchased locally from Antelope Valley Chevrolet.

“The AVTA Board continues to hold to our vision of an all-electric transit agency, including support vehicles,” AVTA Board Chairman Marvin Crist said in a news release. “We are very pleased that AVTA was able to fulfill the RFP from a local business here in the Antelope Valley.”

In 2016, the AVTA Board of Directors adopted a goal to procure and operate a 100% battery-electric fleet. Since then, AVTA achieved the first all-electric local bus fleet in North America in 2020, and the first all-electric commuter fleet in 2022. The next step of this process is to add battery-electric support vehicles for fixed-route transit operations.

In the June Board meeting, the AVTA Board of Directors authorized Executive Director/CEO Martin Tompkins to purchase the support vehicles and put them into service. This month, the AVTA Chevy Bolts made their first appearance, with custom-designed wraps to complement AVTA’s all-electric zero-emission local bus fleet.

AVTA provides local, commuter and dial-a-ride service to a population of more than 450,000 residents in the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale as well as the unincorporated portions of northern Los Angeles County.

[Information via news release from the Antelope Valley Transit Authority.]

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