Proterra, an Electric Bus Maker, Aims to Follow the Tesla Model | Hacker News Reader

Proterra, an Electric Bus Maker, Aims to Follow the Tesla Model

businessweek.com

32 pointsavance610 comments

I was thinking about this recently while at LAX, and all the shuttle buses going from the airport to the local rental car spots or hotels.

I think these types of vehicles travel fairly short distances over the day, but are constantly burning fuel, and therefore, their emissions-over-distance is probably quite high. I suspect this is an area that electric vehicles could make a fair sized dent.

The size of a battery to take a city bus all along it's circuit for miles a day must be quite an expense, and possibly even a technical challenge. If a shuttle bus travels 1/4 the distance, and can be swapped out and charged easily, I think that might be a better sell. Plus, a manufacturer could attempt to set-up a fleet close to the airport and service a large number of customers in the private sector.

MUC ( Munich Airport ) had a pilot until 2006 with hydrogen powered buses [0]. Last time I flew, they still use diesel powered.

I believe that if this company makes a good electric bus, the airports will be the first customers.

[0] http://www.munich-airport.de/en/company/umwelt/klima/luft/kl...

Given what you say, airports seem like a perfect use case for busses driven by overhead wires. Now that I think about it, I'm kind of surprised it hasn't already been done.

The overhead wires get a bit difficult when you consider driving up to hotels, getting the buses out for maintenance, etc. etc. you'd need to build the wire infrastructure, and much of that would be on private property.

> Micheal Austin, a vice president at BYD America, praises Proterra’s designs but downplays any rivalry, calling the other company only “a competitor on some levels.”

He's right, and this is why Tesla recently opened up its patents for use by others. Sure, BYD and Proterra do compete for some cities that are ready to make the investment in electric buses. But both of them are mostly competing with cities that are likely to stick with the status quo, and their efforts to market their buses will help both of them by broadening the market.

So… that part about 10 minutes. Is it already working?

Dear USA,

Welcome to 1948 where busses run on electricity generated by falling water (the cheapest in North America) rather than coal... the busses even charge while they drive...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybuses_in_Vancouver

Your technology is soooo amazing.

Replace school buses. They put down a ridiculous number of miles per year and the pollution isn't much good for the riders either. While not all routes could be covered with electric buses I suspect many could

Whatever routes you can't cover with electricity, you cover with natural gas or biodiesel.

I'm not sure what's up with the "Dear USA" bit. The US has a long history of trolleybus systems [1], including 5 still in operation (vs. just Vancouver for Canada)[2]. Are you trying to say that the tech to move to a system that doesn't require the overhead wires and other infrastructure spread along the route isn't impressive or am I missing your point?

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trolleybus_systems_in_t... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trolleybus_systems_in_C...

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