Electric buses for big California test

Buses said to save over $500,000 over 12 years in fuel costs in US 50% more in Europe.

The only difference commuters notice on Proterra’s electric vehicles is the lack of noise; the 10 minute charging process is automated

Proterra in partnership with the San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD), was recently awarded a California Energy Commission (CEC) grant in the amount of $2.56 million toward an electric bus demonstration project valued at more than $4 million.

This demonstration project will introduce the San Joaquin RTD’s first fully electric buses into service, reducing energy consumption, waste, and pollution in California’s Central Valley, an area of strategic importance to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The grant award includes two new EcoRide BE35 battery-electric buses for RTD’s operating fleet. Proterra will also provide the automated fastcharging station for RTD’s Downtown Transit Center. The buses and charge station will be delivered to SJRTD in the spring of 2013.

Proterra’s EcoRide BE35 battery-electric buses recharge in less than 10 minutes, ready to serve the community with clean electric powered bus service. The 35-foot long buses are made of lightweight composite materials and are powered with state of the art battery technology. As a result, the buses have zero emissions, run virtually silent and are 600 percent more fuel efficient than diesel buses.

"We are very impressed with Proterra’s innovations, and we are proud to be a part of efforts to provide environmentally-friendly and sustainable transportation delivery options," said RTD General Manager/CEO Donna DeMartino. "This project is consistent with RTD’s core values and strategic initiatives and is another positive example of how we can leverage new technology to protect our environment and save costs at the same time. We are excited to begin operating these buses next year."

This grant comes on the heels of growing interest in Proterra in California and other areas of the US.
Foothill Transit began using three of Proterra’s EcoRide buses (dubbed the ecoliner by Foothill Transit) in September 2010 and is currently operating select services with their Proterra fleet.

The buses are provided by Proterra, a South Carolina company backed by Kleiner Perkins, the venture firm that was an early investor in tech companies such as Google and Amazon.

Proterra developed the charging stations and buses, which, unlike most other electric systems, only require 10 minutes to charge. "The fast charging made it really interesting for us," says Felicia Friesema, director of marketing for Foothill Transit. "Charging in under 10 minutes is essential for making electric technology feasible for use in a day-to-day system."

The docking station hangs over the road, allowing the bus to drive underneath it and connect with the charging arm, which plugs into its roof.

"Previous electric systems would need an overnight charge," says Friesema. This was not practical, she adds. "It meant we would be short a bus for an entire day … so electric bus technology wasn’t really realistic for the type of service that we provide. We needed something that could get back into service quickly and work seamlessly for the customer. They don’t want to know that the reason their bus didn’t turn up is because it ran out of juice."

Marc Gottschalk, Proterra’s chief business development officer, says zero-emission buses can also save money in the long run. "Because of the higher efficiency of the buses we can save [the transit authorities] money they would have spent on fuel costs in a pretty dramatic fashion."

An all-electric bus would save more than $500,000 in fuel costs over a 12-year period, he says. In the UK and Europe, where petrol prices tend to be higher than in the US, "the saving would probably be 50 per cent more than that".

Valere Tjolle
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