GERTIE is excited to announce the newest addition to their fleet (yet to be named) – their first electric vehicle, designed by Micro Bird.
This is the first new vehicle we’ve received in 12 years and waited nearly 4 years for federal funding to make this happen.
We’ve had many interested in learning more about these vehicles, here are some facts for you:
- Micro Bird introduced their first electric vehicle in 2017. Since then, they have built over 200 vehicles. Several of these vehicles are in use by School District busing systems, including the RDN SD 69.
- The chassis is a Ford model E450 which is the same as the micro diesel school bus built by Girardin, with electric motors.
So, how does it work?
Electric Motor: Direct drive with park lock function generates power for the power train: if you like numbers: 235 kW / 1926 Nm (peak) 180 kW / 1248 Nm (continuous)
Battery Power: Lithium-ion (LFP) 140 kWh / 480-700 V , 175 kWh / 450-657 V
And it monitors itself for safety. The Power train batteries are expected to last 10 years with proper recharging and usage.
Battery Recharging: there is a dual system; (1) Regenerative braking; which means when the accelerator is released while the vehicle is moving, kinetic energy is used to recharge the traction battery. Regen is active above ~20km/h (~12mph) and when battery charge is below 90%. (2) Plug in charging: GERTIE has installed 2 level 2 chargers. It takes approximately 8 hours to fully recharge the battery when empty. In practice, GERTIE batteries never reach below 30% charged before recharging.
While fully loaded, with eco driving, on flat and dry roads, without A/C or heater, the range can reach up to 450 kilometres and is optimized by the four (4) pre-set driving modes: drive, city drive, highway drive, and Eco. However, the driving range can be affected by numerous factors such as cold weather, and hilly terrain.
GERTIE is in the process of testing a propane powered generator to power up the battery chargers during power outages on Gabriola.
Funded by a generous grant from the Federal Government which received the Province of BC Electric Vehicle rebates as well as donations to GERTIE from previous years, we were able to bring this new bus to our community.
Get on board and ride with GERTIE!
Schedule: https://gertie.ca/current-schedule
Rider Information: https://gertie.ca/routes/rider-information