Proterra, a California-based company, has developed an electric bus that can travel 1,101.2 miles without charging. (Photo provided to CGTN)
As the world is warming up to hit the brakes on fossil fuel-based cars, electric vehicles are likely to become the dominant means of public transportation.
Proterra, a California-based company, has developed an electric bus that can travel 1,101.2 miles without charging.
Going on a test drive in New Carlisle, Indiana, the bus, named Catalyst E2 Max, has set a world record for driving the longest distance by an electric vehicle (EV) on a single charge, the company said in a press release on Tuesday.
"For our heavy-duty electric bus to break the previous world record of 1,013.76 miles – which was set by a light-duty passenger EV 46 times lighter than the Catalyst E2 max – is a major feat," said Matt Horton, Proterra's chief commercial officer.
The battery of the 40-foot bus has an energy storage capacity of 660 kWh, which is nearly nine times the capacity of that in a Tesla Model S, said the BBC.
The company claimed that the operational cost of the Catalyst E2 Max per mile is lower than conventional buses powered by fossil fuel.
China has been putting efforts in meeting the goal of banning fossil fuel-powered vehicles by introducing electric buses to its roads.
Many Chinese cities have already adopted electric buses as they move to fight air pollution. All buses in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou will be powered by electricity by 2020, according to a plan on the development of new energy vehicles released by the municipal development and reform commission in May.
China became the world's largest producer and consumer of new energy vehicles (NEVs) since 2015, according to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The International Energy Agency says China now accounts for more than 40 percent of the total electric cars sold worldwide.
