Proterra Expands its Southeastern Reach as Clemson Area Transit Acquires Its Second Fleet of Battery-Electric Proterra® Buses
Today Proterra, the leading innovator in heavy-duty electric transportation, announced that Clemson Area Transit (CATbus) has purchased ten 40′ Proterra Catalyst® E2 buses and related charging infrastructure. The CATbus transit vehicles will be manufactured in Proterra’s East Coast Manufacturing Facility, located in nearby Greenville, S.C. Serving 1.9 million riders annually in three Upstate South Carolina counties, including the cities of Clemson and Seneca and the towns of Central and Pendleton as well as four universities, the fare-free CATbus system will have the largest zero-emission fleet in the Carolinas. “As part of our vision at CATbus, we are committed over the next eight years to expand upon projects that reduce energy consumption and increase access to clean, efficient mass transit. The integration of these ten Proterra electric buses into our fleet is a big step in making this happen,” said Keith Moody, interim general manager of CATbus. “With 50 percent of our fleet soon to be serviced by zero-emission, battery-electric buses, today marks an important milestone, and we’re pleased to further our partnership with Proterra, as the company helps CATbus achieve our transit goals towards a 100-percent electric fleet.”
CATbus purchased the Proterra Catalyst E2 buses in part with $3.9 million from the Federal Highway and Transit Administration’s (FTA) Low- or No-Emissions program. The Low-No program provided $55 million in bus-buying grants to municipalities in 2016, of which Clemson’s grant was among the largest. The ten-bus purchase complements the six Proterra buses already servicing the City of Seneca, S.C. that are operated by CATbus. In 2015, Seneca became the first city in the U.S. to operate an all-electric bus fleet and now serves as a model for other municipalities considering all-electric bus transit. Over the past three years, CATbus has played host to transit leadership representing cities throughout North America and Europe who are looking to replicate the Seneca success in their cities. “The FTA likes to see projects that are successful, and with the Seneca project, it’s been a total success,” Moody said. “We are building success onto success.”
Since the fleet debuted, the Seneca Proterra buses have received 27,950 charges, traveled more than 520,000 and eliminated over 2,848,600 lbs. of greenhouse gases—equivalent to planting 59,348 trees.
“With Greenville as our home in South Carolina, we couldn’t be more pleased to expand our footprint in the Upstate region with CATbus,” said Ryan Popple, president and CEO of Proterra. “As a pioneering transit agency that adopted one of the first battery-electric fleets in North America, we look forward to continuing to equip CATbus communities with the cleanest and highest-performing buses on the road.”
About Proterra:
Proterra is a leader in the design and manufacture of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, enabling bus fleet operators to significantly reduce operating costs while delivering clean, quiet transportation to local communities across the United States. With more than 400 vehicles sold to 41 different municipal, university, and commercial transit agencies in 20 states, Proterra is committed to providing state of the art, high performance vehicles to meet today’s growing market demand. The company’s configurable Catalyst platform is capable of serving the full daily mileage needs of nearly every U.S. transit route on a single charge. With unmatched durability and energy efficiency based on rigorous U.S. certification testing, Proterra products are proudly designed, engineered and manufactured in America, with offices in Silicon Valley, South Carolina, and Los Angeles.
