All-electric bus travels record 1,100 miles on a single charge

US-based electric bus manufacturer Proterra upgraded its 40-foot Catalyst E2, now called ‘Catalyst E2 max‘, with a massive 660 kWh battery pack and brought it to the track at the Navistar Proving Grounds in New Carlisle, Indiana, to test it.

Unsurprisingly with that insane amount of battery capacity in the vehicle, they beat the record for the most distance traveled on a single charge by an electric vehicle. 

The Proterra Catalyst E2 max traveled 1,101.2 miles before its battery pack was depleted.

Matt Horton, Proterra’s chief commercial officer, commented on the achievement:

“For our heavy-duty electric bus to break the previous world record of 1,013.76 miles — which was set by a light-duty passenger EV 46 times lighter than the Catalyst E2 max — is a major feat. This record achievement is a testament to Proterra’s purpose-built electric bus design, energy-dense batteries and efficient drivetrain.”

The feat is more about proving the capacity of electric buses than a demonstration of a practical route, but it’s part of Proterra’s range of buses available to customers.

They released a quick video about the new record:

https://vimeo.com/233570183/bf13a3ea16

This year, the bus manufacturer has been positioning itself for significant growth of its business.

Fresh off an important $140 million investment round to expand production, they did another $55 million financing round led by BMW and Al Gore’s venture firm last June.

Previously, the company hired Tesla’s former Vice President of Manufacturing to lead a production expansion at their facility in Greenville, South Carolina, and their new factory in Los Angeles County in order to satisfy the increasing demand.

The production expansion comes amid a significant increase in demand as the economics start to favor electric powertrains in larger vehicles, like buses. The firm claims to have sold 400 electric buses already and orders keep piling up. For example, Seattle recently ordered 120 new all-electric buses.

Ryan Popple, CEO of Proterra, claims that electric buses are now cheaper than diesel/CNG and could dominate the market within 10 years.