Electric buses have better hill climbing capabilities than diesel buses. What’s more they can recover some of the energy used to climb a hill on the way back down. For example, Park City UT has 6 Proterra e-buses serving ski hills in the area. Here is a Proterra bus in Park City.
This short clip also demonstrates their effectiveness in winter. The 60ft articulated e-Buses have motors on 2 axles which will mean an end to pushing the bus on snowy days, a far too common site in Ottawa!
Diesel engines do not like the cold, they are hard to start and OC Transpo sometimes has to idle many buses overnight to make sure they will start in the morning. In an e-bus there is no engine oil to get cold or fuel to freeze and no engine to start, they just go.
Range can be reduced by the cold but that is mainly due to heating the cabin. e-Buses can be fitted with diesel heaters if the battery capacity is needed for range.
