New Record for Electric Bus
A California-based start-up, Proterra, has set a new world record of reserve on a single battery charge, amounting to 1,101.2 miles.
To achieve that feat, Proterra used a Catalyst E2 Max bus, which boasts a 660-kilowatt-hour battery pack. The bus had no passengers on board and drove around the Navistar Proving Ground in New Carlisle, Indiana. The previous record of 1,013.76 miles was set by an electric car that weighed about 46 times less than this bus.
Last year, one of the company's buses drove 603 miles on a single charge with a 440-kWh battery pack and, in 2015, another bus achieved 258 miles with 257-kWh of battery capacity. These tests are important because car buyers are not the only ones who feel range anxiety.
With a range record in the books, Matt Horton, Proterra's Chief Commercial Officer, stated, the company will now focus on other areas like costs. The average cost of Proterra electric buses has dropped from over $1 million to around $700,000. As with manufacturers of electric cars, they will try to emphasize low maintenance cost, while also trying to bring purchase price down further.
Another issue is reliability. To assess, the company is working to use data gathered from other Proterra buses that have been on the road for seven years.
