Electric buses on the horizon for São Paulo’s streets

The biggest metropolis of South America, São Paulo has a complex urban public transport network, with a fleet including 14,076 buses running on diesel and 201 trolleybuses, which draw their power from overhead electrical wires. As of this month, however, a novelty may be seen on the city’s streets. The São Paulo government is planning to roll out a fleet of 15 entirely battery-powered buses, the first of their kind in the state capital.

“It will be a chance to verify the performance of electric buses in everyday usage, in rigorous operating conditions,” said Simão Saura Neto, the superintendent of vehicular engineering and special mobility of SPTrans, the company in charge of the city’s public transport.

Bus manufacturers, parts and battery suppliers, electricity distribution companies, municipal government, and transport experts are monitoring this experiment closely, hoping that it may serve as a reference to expanding the fleet of electric buses in Brazil. Local government will evaluate the technical reliability of the vehicles—which must circulate for over 200 kilometers per day without recharging—the infrastructure of electricity supply, environmental impact and economic viability of maintaining a battery-powered fleet.

The substitution of São Paulo’s diesel bus fleet is a legal necessity. In 2018, a municipal law established that vehicles used for public transport must reduce their carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by 50 percent within ten years, and by 100 percent in 20 years. The release of particulate material (PM) must fall by 90 and 95 percent, respectively, while nitrogen oxides (NO x) emissions must be reduced by 80 and 95 percent.

“Using fuels such as ethanol and biogas will be enough to meet ten-year goals, but only electric [buses] and hydrogen vehicles will suffice to comply with what has been established for 20 years, when emissions must be eliminated,”...