Link Transit begins testing small electric vehicle

A small, blue, electric bus will soon be seen on the streets of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee, as Link Transit looks at how a European-manufactured vehicle can work in the area.

Link will operate a Karsan "eJEST" in LinkPlus paratransit service over the next couple of weeks to get operator feedback on its performance, see how the vehicle works in this environment and hear from riders how they like the vehicle. LinkPlus is Link’s door-to-door ADA service.

Karsan, with manufacturing facilities in Germany and Turkey, is one of the largest bus manufacturers for the European market. The eJEST is their smallest vehicle, a 19’ foot, 11,500 pound battery electric bus. With a top speed of 43 mph and a range of 130 miles, the vehicle is designed for in-town use, and for use in paratransit service and on routes with lower ridership. The bus Link is testing is configured to carry 10 seated passengers plus one wheelchair.

The eJEST uses a BMW Li-ion 360V - 88 kWh battery system that can be fully charged in four hours using Level 2 charging, and in just over one hour with a DC Level 3 charger. “These are simple, low-cost charging systems,” said Ed Archer, Link’s Vehicle Maintenance Director. “They require less infrastructure, so they are quicker and less expensive to install and maintain.”

The eJEST is a 12-year vehicle, with a total operating cost much less than gasoline-powered cutaway buses Link currently operates for some service. Cutaways typically are a five to seven-year vehicle, with high maintenance costs.

Since 2010, Link has been a transit industry leader in transitioning to electric vehicles, and currently has 23 full-size BYD buses in its fleet. “We are looking at smaller electric vehicles for different parts of our service,” said Archer. “There are number of new products on the market which may work for us here. This eJEST one option we are currently looking at.” Link recently took delivery of three Ford e-Transit’s to add to their fleet of paratransit vehicles.

Karsan and Damera, a Canadian bus sales company, formed a partnership In 2021 to bring electric buses to North America. Damera was founded in 2002, and currently services over 70 transit systems and 3,000 buses per year. For more information on either company, visit https://www.karsan.com/en or https://dameracorp.com/