King County Metro is paying $26 million to upgrade its electric trolley buses.
On Tuesday, German clean tech company Heramba Electric and subsidiary Kiepe Electric announced King County Metro will upgrade the battery capacity and in-motion charging on its fleet of 174 trolley buses, which usually draw power from overhead lines but can operate on battery power over short distances.
Bill Thon, a superintendent at King County Metro, said the upgrades will roughly triple the buses' battery capacity.
"The trolleys have reached midlife, so that means it's time to take this step," he said. "The good news is we're taking this step with a vendor that already has engineering capability and capacity and familiarity with the fleet."
According to a news release, King County initially received the 174 buses between 2014 and 2017. New Flyer provided the buses, while Kiepe developed much of the technology to make the buses run.
The upgrades will start later this year. Thon said the upgrades should take about three years but could take longer, and the county has two one-year extensions on the project available. Kiepe will provide on-site personnel during the project for technical support and troubleshooting.
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Vic Stover, a manager at King County Metro, said the additional battery capacity will give the agency more flexibility in designing routes around construction or anything else that could block the buses' normal routes along a network of overhead wires. Kiepe said in the release the upgraded batteries will allow the buses to travel more than 7 miles between wire connections.
Metro's trolley network comprises 14 routes and transported 19.5% of riders systemwide last year, according to The Urbanist.
In addition to buses, Kiepe makes electrical equipment for subways, trolleys and regional trains. Parent company Heramba, meanwhile, is focused on decarbonizing commercial transportation. Heramba generated $170.1 million in revenue last year, up 27.6% year over year.
As for expanding the fleet down the road, Stover said King County Metro is "looking at options as metro moves to a 100% zero-emissions fleet. ... But those plans are still in development."
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