The Gen3 electric drive system from BAE Systems is designed to offer high performance with low emissions and improved fuel efficiency.

The contract stipulates a firm order for 75 ‘Xcelsior’ hybrid electric buses (40 feet in length) and 25 ‘Xcelsior Charge NG’ battery electric buses (35 feet in length).

New Flyer will supply 108 units of its ‘Xcelsior Charge FC’ range of hydrogen-powered electric buses, all measuring forty feet in length, to SamTrans.

New Flyer’s ‘Xcelsior Hybrid’ will be offered with a new BAE powertrain, adding a ‘GPM’ direct drive motor and a ‘Modular Power Control System’ (MPCS), alongside other components which were in previous models.

NFI says that the contract follows on from an authorisation by the NJ Transit board in November 2023 to purchase up to 1,300 new buses (including firm orders of 550 units) in order to renew its fleet.

Of the firm order for 80 buses, 32 will be fitted with another set of doors on the other side of the vehicle, allowing for dual-side boarding.

The buses will be delivered to the New York City Transit Authority, which is part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Throughout 2024, Ballard will supply 100 hydrogen fuel cell engines (FCmove-HD) to power New Flyer’s Xcelsior Charge FC buses in North America. The engines will be produced in Ballard’s Oregon Facility in the U.S.A.

160 ‘Xcelsior’ 40-foot buses will replace end-of-life vehicles in METRO’s fleet, to be jointed later by an additional 50 options.

Sixty vehicles will operate on the ‘South Dade TransitWay’ bus rapid transit corridor, a 20-mile route connecting municipalities between Dadeland South Metrorail Station and Florida City.

The two five-year contracts stipulate firm orders for six ‘Xcelsior Charge FC’ fuel cell electric buses and twenty ‘Xcelsior Hybrid’ buses, and provide further options for up to 320 buses, half of which would be fuel cell electric and half of them hybrid electric.

The order was made through an option agreed between NYCT and New Flyer as part of a wider framework agreement.