Lucid Motors (CCIV) and Proterra (ACTC) are the latest electric vehicle companies looking to go public as there’s currently a gold rush in the space.
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In September, we reported on the tremendous news that Dominion Energy, an investor-owned utility operating in eight US states, would be buying a minimum of 1,050 V2G electric school buses over the next five years. The procurement would start with 50 school buses, then add 200 per year over five years.
Now the winner of the first phase has been announced, and congratulations are in order for Daimler’s Thomas Built Buses, who will be supplying 50 of its C2 Jouley all-electric buses (pictured above).
Electric bus maker Proterra announced the University of Georgia has ordered 20 of its Catalyst E2 buses. Upon deployment, the university will have one of the largest electric bus fleets in the U.S.
Daimler has many different heavy-duty electric vehicle efforts, including electric buses, but now the Germany automaker is also investing in U.S. electric bus maker Proterra.
The startup has secured a new massive $155 million round of investment.
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Proterra is rapidly emerging as an important player in the bus market with its all-electric buses not only beating diesel buses when it comes to the cost of operation, but also due to their impressive performance.
Now, they are putting their new all-electric bus with dual motor to the test on Utah’s steepest roads to prove its performance.
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American electric bus maker Proterra made two important announcements today. The company unveiled its new dual motor all-electric drivetrain and it confirmed that it has been selected to make the electric powertrains for Van Hool’s first all-electric coach.
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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.
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Electric bus maker Proterra is fresh off an important $140 million investment round to expand production and yet, it just announced another (Series 6) $55 million investment round.
Investors include Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management and BMW’s venture capital arm, BMW i Ventures.
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There are so many companies working on autonomous driving these days that it’s hard to keep track and now we can add another one to the list.
Proterra, a US-based manufacturer of battery-powered buses, wants to add autonomous driving capability to its fleet of electric buses. They announced this week a deal to join the University of Nevada, Reno’s Living Lab Coalition to work on autonomy for public transit.
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Transit vehicles today are mostly powered by gasoline, diesel, and CNG, while batteries only represent about 1% of the market. It is currently a small part of the industry, but it’s also the fastest growing fuel source in the sector and it’s starting to become highly competitive.
Electric bus maker Proterra is ramping up production and currently claims to be cheaper than diesel and CNG. It leads CEO Ryan Popple to make a bold prediction that battery-powered buses will dominate the transit bus market within 10 years.
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If you were wondering how electric bus manufacturer Proterra managed to secure a large $140 million round of financing last week, it might be easier to understand now that we know they had a massive order in the pipeline.
King County’s Metro Transit, which includes Seattle’s metro area, announced a zero-emission transition of its fleet of buses and confirmed that it will add 120 new all-electric buses over the next 3 years. Proterra is getting the bulk of the order.
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Now that battery-powered buses are becoming more cost-effective and able to handle almost any urban routes, manufacturers are looking to expand their production to satisfy the demand from transit agencies turning to electric when updating their fleet.
Proterra, a manufacturer of large all-electric buses in the US, has been talking a lot about production expansion lately after sales being up 220% since last year. The company hired Tesla’s former Vice President of Manufacturing to lead the expansion at their facility in Greenville, South Carolina, and their new factory in Los Angeles County.
Last week, the company confirmed having secured an impressive $140 million investment to finance this important expansion of their production capacity.
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A deal between the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) was announced today to award funding for the purchase of “15 Proterra Catalyst buses, 11 Proterra depot-chargers, and 4 Proterra fast-chargers”.
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Josh Ensign, until recently Tesla’s Vice President of Manufacturing, left the automaker in somewhat of a controversy earlier this year when it was reported that himself and Vice President of Production Greg Reichow, two of the top manufacturing executives at Tesla, were let go following what CEO Elon Musk later referred to as the “production hell” of the first half of 2016 due to a difficult Model X ramp up.
Tesla denied that their departures had anything do with the Model X production issues. The company soon after hired Peter Hochholdinger, Audi’s Senior Director of Production, to lead vehicle manufacturing.
Now we learn that Ensign is staying in the electric vehicle manufacturing business. It was announced today that he is joining all-electric bus maker Proterra as Chief Operating Officer.
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Proterra unveils today its new Catalyst E2 and it claims it will cover the “daily mileage needs of nearly every U.S. mass transit route on a single charge” – leaving no excuse to fleet managers for not going with all-electric buses when replacing their fleet.
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Over two years ago, Tesla open-sourced all its patents for electric vehicles – a surprising announcement in our IP-centric business climate. CEO Elon Musk explained the move as being in line with Tesla’s mission to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport:
“If we’re all in a ship together and the ship has some holes in it, and we’re sort of bailing water out of it, and we have a great design for a bucket, then even if we’re bailing out way better than everyone else, we should probably still share the bucket design.”
We might get access to yet another bucket design thanks to Proterra, a leading manufacturer of all-electric buses. The bus maker announced today that it will be opening its proprietary “on-route fast-charging technology” on a royalty-free basis.
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Proterra, a leading manufacturer of all-electric buses, unveiled this week a new battery pack to power its Catalyst XR bus pictured above. The new pack holds 28 percent more energy which adds up to an impressive 330 kWh of energy capacity.
As of March 2016, Proterra had 63 buses on the roads across 10 states. Now the company says that all current Catalyst XR customers will receive a complimentary upgrade with the new battery pack.
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Proterra impresses again with its entirely battery-powered bus: the Catalyst XR. The South Carolina-based company announced today that its 40-foot bus drove 258 miles on a single charge under test conditions at Michelin’s Laurens Proving Grounds (LPG).
It’s without a doubt an impressive feat to power a ~27,500 lbs vehicle for 285 miles on batteries alone…
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