Proterra Electric Buses For Park City, Utah

Battery-electric bus

Park City Transit and electric bus manufacturer Proterra have announced Park City Transit will operate a zero-emission Proterra Catalyst shuttle during the 33rd running of the Sundance Film Festival.

“We are excited to complement Sundance’s New Climate programming with Park City’s new zero-emission battery-electric bus,” said Park City Mayor Jack Thomas. “It’s our hope that this preview of our new Proterra fleet to visitors from around the world will inspire others to consider clean, quiet electric transit in their communities.”

Park City Transit has purchased a total of six Proterra Catalyst buses, with the full fleet be deployed June 2017.

This isn’t just a warm and fuzzy, tree-hugging sort of move – Park City Council’s Becca Gerber said the new route the fleet will travel should boost ridership up to 38 percent and decrease costs by almost 16% per passenger. With increased ridership will come decreased emissions, through residents ditching their vehicles in favour of bus travel.

Proterra Catalyst electric bus
Image: Proterra

What energy source will be charging Park City Transit’s electric buses? That’s not clear, but in October last year, Park City became the 19th city in the USA to pledge sourcing 100% of its energy from renewables – so it may not be too long before the buses are recharged by renewables such as wind or solar power.

Park City has previously committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2032.

Proterra Catalyst buses have already been put to the test around the USA, having racked up around 4 million kilometres of service. One of the places the buses are already in use is at the University of Montana.

Touted as having the greatest range of any zero-emission, battery-electric bus in its class; the vehicles have a  carbon-fiber-reinforced body and the highest-efficiency electric drivetrain commercially available.

The fully tricked-out E2 series has a nominal range of up to 560 kilometres and takes around 3.5 – 5 hours to charge. At the other end of the scale, the FC series may only have a range of around 100 kilometres, but it has a charge time of just 10-13 minutes.

Proterra’s buses have an expected service life of around 20 years, and during that time maintenance costs are estimated to be up to USD $237,000 less than a diesel hybrid, $194,000 less than a CNG bus and $150,000 cheaper than a diesel vehicle.

Trivia : The world’s first solar electric bus went into service in Adelaide, South Australia in 2013. The bus is recharged by solar panels installed on top of Adelaide Central Bus Station.

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