Fast-Charging Electric Buses Coming to Southern California
Posted By Ariel Schwartz On August 31, 2010 @ 4:20 pm In Green Transportation,TransportationTuesday | 2 Comments
[4]
Southern California isn’t exactly known for having the best public transportation system [5], but Foothill Transit, a public transportation agency in the San Gabriel/Pomona area, is about to get an impressive upgrade: all-electric [6] buses [7] that can charge up in under 10 minutes. Foothill bought three EcoRide BE35 all-electric [8] buses, along with two charging stations.
[9]
Both the buses and the charging stations [10] were purchased from Proterra, a startup that offers fast-charging electric vehicles for commercial use. The secret: Proterra’s mammoth 72 kilowatt-hour battery packs, which are 50% larger than those found in the Tesla Roadster. Of course, that kind of technology doesn’t come cheap — Foothill is paying $5.6 million for its buses and chargers [11].
With transportation agencies across the country facing major budget cuts, it’s unlikely that Proterra’s buses will find their way into big cities [12]any time soon. But Foothill, at least, plans to expand its fleet to 12 buses if all goes well.
+ Proterra [13]
Via Greentech Media [14]
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URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/fast-charging-electric-buses-coming-to-southern-california/
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[3] Email: mailto:?subject=http://inhabitat.com/fast-charging-electric-buses-coming-to-southern-california/
[4] Image: http://inhabitat.com/2010/08/31/fast-charging-electric-buses-coming-to-southern-california/ecoride-3qcs_2/
[5] public transportation system: http://inhabitat.com/2010/05/11/electric-transit-backpack-lets-you-fly-through-city-streets/
[6] all-electric: http://inhabitat.com/2010/08/18/plug-n-go-ev-charging-station-showcased-at-green-energy-expo/
[7] buses: http://inhabitat.com/2010/05/17/londons-hybrid-double-decker-bus-officially-unveiled-today/
[8] electric: http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/06/01/the-unicab-could-be-nycs-taxi-of-tomorrow/
[9] Image: http://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2010/08/evbus-ed01.jpg
[10] charging stations: http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/07/13/ge-and-yves-behar-unveil-superfast-wattstation-ev-charger/
[11] chargers: http://inhabitat.com/2010/07/30/evatran-unveils-worlds-first-wireless-ev-charger/
[12] big cities : http://inhabitat.com/2010/07/16/new-york-city-unveils-first-federally-funded-ev-charging-station/
[13] + Proterra: http://proterraonline.com/
[14] Greentech Media: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-electric-bus-hits-the-road/
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