Richard Stradling – The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Chapel Hill Transit has pulled its fleet of electric buses off the road while it waits to learn what caused a fire on one of them Tuesday afternoon.
The bus was parked in the lot at the agency’s headquarters off Millhouse Road when employees saw smoke coming from the rear at about 2:45 p.m. No one was on the bus at the time, and no one was injured.
The bus was not charging when the fire started.
Electric vehicle fires can burn hot and be difficult to extinguish, according to the Federal Transit Administration. It took the Chapel Hill Fire Department two hours to put out the bus fire, town spokesman Alex Carrasquillo said.
Lithium-ion batteries involved in a fire are also susceptible to reigniting hours later. To prevent that, Chapel Hill firefighters kept water flowing on the rear of the bus overnight, Carrasquillo said.
The fire was contained to the bus, which was a total loss.
The fire department is still trying to determine how the fire started. Until it does, Chapel Hill Transit chose to keep its 10 other electric buses out of service.
“We’d really like to learn more about the cause,” Carrasquillo said. “So in the meantime we’re erring on the side of caution.”
The bus was a 2021 Gillig. All of the town’s 10 other electric buses are also Gilligs, though of varying years. The town received its first electric bus in 2021.
Chapel Hill Transit also has 82 diesel buses in its fleet and doesn’t expect the temporary loss of its electric buses will cause any problems with service, Carrasquillo said.
This is the first fire in one of Chapel Hill Transit’s electric buses. The agency has also had fires on its diesel buses, though not since 2010.
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