BYD (Build Your Dreams) of Lancaster has entered into a contract with UC Irvine to deliver 20 electric-powered buses worth $15 million. The deal will make UCI the first campus in the country to have an all-electricbus fleet. The first coaches should arrive this fall.
UCI students previously voted to pay up to $40 each quarter to the student government to finance the acquisition of the buses, which will replace diesel-fueled vehicles in the student-funded and operated service that shuttles students around campus.
“Once again, UCI is number one in making sure we have a sustainable future,” said Tracy La, president of the Associated Students of UCI. “I hope the rest of the country can follow us. I hope other colleges and universities will do this.”
UCI officials say theirs is the first campus to scrap its entire fleet of diesel-fueled buses in favor of electric-powered buses that emit zero emissions.
“Thanks to a phenomenal partnership between our student organization and the divisions of Student Affairs and Administrative and Business Services, this fall we will move our students in a fleet of zero-tailpipe-emission vehicles—and be the first university in the country to do so,” said Dan Dooros, UCI’s associate vice chancellor of student affairs.
