Quick Charge, Electric Public Transport in South California
A public transportation agency in the South California region of San Gabriel/Pomona plans to have as part of their services all electric buses that can charge in a jiffy. The company, Foothill Transit, has bought three EcoRide BE35 all electric buses and two charging stations.
The vehicles are capable of charging up in ten minutes, thanks to the 72 kilowatt-hour battery packs they have.
The buses and charging stations have been bought from Proterra, a relatively new company that provides fast-charging electric vehicles for commercial purposes.
The batteries that Proterra uses are 50% bigger than those used in the Tesla Roadster.
The buses and chargers cost Foothill $5.6 million. Massive budget cuts that are hitting the transportation sector in most of the states mean that these kinds of buses may not be driving through big cities any time soon.
Foothill, however, hopes to have a fleet of 12 such buses if everything goes as planned.
(Via Proterra)
