Proterra, an American manufacturer of all-electric zero-emissions vehicles, unveils the newest addition to its lineup of offerings, the Catalyst E2 bus.
The Catalyst Efficient Energy (E2) debuted during the American Public Transit Association's annual meeting. The new all-electric bus has a 440 to 600 kWh storage capacity, which helps it achieve a nominal range of up to 194 to 350 miles.
Proterra says that the Catalyst E2, with its nominal range, has the capacity to travel the mileage of most U.S. mass transit routes on a single charge. Moreover, the electric vehicle manufacturer says that the new bus offers a direct replacement to fossil-fueled transit vehicles.
When fully charged, the Catalyst E2 can run for more than 600 miles. This is according to the company's logs when the vehicle was tested last month within Michelin's Laurens Proving Grounds. The newly unveiled E2 sits atop Proterra's line of high-mileage buses, which includes the Catalyst FC and Catalyst XR series that have nominals of 49 to 62 miles and 136 to 193 miles, respectively.
"Proterra's primary goal has always been to create a purpose-built, high-performance electric vehicle that can serve every single transit route in the United States," says Proterra CEO Ryan Popple while noting that with the Catalyst E2, the company has achieved its goal. Topple went on further to say with E2 standing as a no-compromise replacement for fossil-fueled buses, the question should no longer be on who's going to adopt the technology first. Rather, it should be on who will commit to an efficient, clean and sustainable future of mobility.
According to Proterra's data, its Catalyst line has 30 percent fewer parts and up to 75 percent fewer brake repairs compared to diesel, compressed natural gas (CNG) and diesel-hybrid buses. Moreover, claims that its electric buses allow savings of $237,000, $194,000 and $151,000 in maintenance cost when compared to diesel, CNG and diesel-hybrid buses. These figures reflect savings computed during Catalyst buses' average lifetime.
Summing up the vehicle purchase price, fuel consumption and vehicle maintenance over a 12-year period, Proterra shows that its buses can save operators more than $450,000 when compared to diesel, CNG and diesel-hybrids.
Proterra buses within the US have a total of 2.5 million miles of revenue service. This translates to 540,000 fuel gallons displaced and more than 10 million pounds of carbon emissions eliminated.
"We just surpassed one million miles of revenue service with our battery-electric Proterra fleet, and we're looking forward to many more miles to come. Since our first EV bus procurement with Proterra in 2010, we knew that zero-emission buses were the future of mass transit. Now, with the new Catalyst E2, this vision is a reality," says Doran Barnes, executive director at Foothill Transit.
Proterra specifies that its current sales are up by 220 percent compared with 2015. The company will double its production next year to meet customer demand. This is made possible with the help of its manufacturing lines in both South Carolina and California that are expected to be fully operational by 2017.
