Proterra

[gman430]

I just got information on the project from somebody in the know. Remember how I said it was rumors and guesses earlier. This is the real deal here:

It's the whole shooting match, the whole company. HQ, R&D, assembly. It's going off of Innovation Drive, on the other side of the Hollingsworth plant from the current ICAR complex. It will be on ICAR property and constitute the entire Technology Village 3.

Oh, and make sure you pick up a copy of the Greenville News on Sunday. I'm not saying it involves Proterra either.

Hey guys, what happens when the R&D federal grant money that is floating this thing dries up? They have 9 employees as of right now and have only built 7 buses so far. I still feel like there are a lot of "ifs" with this deal.

They have good financial backing to build the plant without needing the taxpayers unlike some other companies. Oh Carbon Motors... Of course which company wouldn't want tax incentives/federal grant money though if you can get it?

Edited February 3, 2010 by citylife

[gs3]

Hey guys, what happens when the R&D federal grant money that is floating this thing dries up? They have 9 employees as of right now and have only built 7 buses so far. I still feel like there are a lot of "ifs" with this deal.

From what I understand, they are now well backed and well funded by private investors, which is why they are now going forward with a factory, hiring employees, etc. Had they not gotten backing and funding, you probably would not have heard this announcement. Every company starts somewhere. This one is starting in Greenville.

Apparently, they also have commitments for orders from several cities. One of the positives of ramping up the way they have and having plenty of time to demo and sale.

Edited February 3, 2010 by gsupstate

[gs3]

It's the whole shooting match, the whole company. HQ, R&D, assembly.

I had put that info in my original post in this thread, yet the Greenville Snooze simply said factory in their article. They can be so wrong, so many times.

[Greenville]

I had put that info in my original post in this thread, yet the Greenville Snooze simply said factory in their article. They can be so wrong, so many times.

Greenville Snooze is right!

[GvilleSC]

Looking forward to Thursday's formal announcement! Fingers crossed for renderings!

Does the Department of Transportation want to begin considering a new interchange at I-85 and Laurens Road? Ah, probably not... But on the topic of roads surroundings this area, isn't the City suppose to be upgrading the length of Fair Forest Way to match that of Millennium Drive?

[gman430]

Live video feed of Proterra announcement here beginning at 2pm: http://www.clemson.edu/tlt/stream/live/

[gs3]

Live video feed of Proterra announcement here beginning at 2pm: http://www.clemson.edu/tlt/stream/live/

This is great. Thanks. Wanted to make it by to see in person, but too much going on today.

[gman430]

Official press release of Proterra announcing Greenville for the location of their new manufacturing and R&D center: http://www.earthtime...reate-over-1000,1152057.shtml

Proterra’s Greenville manufacturing and research and development center will open in 2011, and be housed in a newly constructed 250,000 square foot building on the CU-ICAR campus. The new facility is in addition to Proterra’s headquarters in Golden, Colorado. The plant will be home to the manufacturing and development initiatives of the company’s clean commercial transportation solutions, which include all-electric and battery-dominant hybrid transit, school and commercial buses, parcel delivery vehicles and other class 4-8 trucks. The company plans to hire over 1,000 local employees in the next four years.

I thought the headquarters was moving to Greenville also.

Edited February 4, 2010 by citylife

[gs3]

Official press release of Proterra announcing Greenville for the location of their new manufacturing and R&D center: http://www.earthtime...reate-over-1000,1152057.shtml

Proterra’s Greenville manufacturing and research and development center will open in 2011, and be housed in a newly constructed 250,000 square foot building on the CU-ICAR campus. The new facility is in addition to Proterra’s headquarters in Golden, Colorado. The plant will be home to the manufacturing and development initiatives of the company’s clean commercial transportation solutions, which include all-electric and battery-dominant hybrid transit, school and commercial buses, parcel delivery vehicles and other class 4-8 trucks. The company plans to hire over 1,000 local employees in the next four years.

I thought the headquarters was moving to Greenville also.

Did you watch the stream video? From what they said, the headquarters will be here eventually as they add to their campus in ICAR. The inital building is 240,000 sq ft and will house R&D as well as manufacturing. Look at it this way, until the headquarters move here, it will add to our local air service numbers.

Edited February 4, 2010 by gsupstate

[gs3]

From the Journal Watchdog. Good photo with article of the crowd in the gallery:

http://www.journalwatchdog.com/business/513-proterra-makes-it-official

[distortedlogic]

Did you watch the stream video? From what they said, the headquarters will be here eventually as they add to their campus in ICAR. The inital building is 240,000 sq ft and will house R&D as well as manufacturing. Look at it this way, until the headquarters move here, it will add to our local air service numbers.

Here is a llink to a Dever area news report on the announcement. They continually refer to Proterra as a Colorado company that is building a manufacturing plant in SC, and says nothing about moving it's HQ. In addition, this is a link to an "earthtimes" article, an online newspaper; it also says nothing about HQ relocation.

I have seen several other similar articles and they all say this is for Assembly and RD, but nothing about HQ, while maintaining it is based in Colorado. What source says an HQ will be part of the development, it doesn't look that way from what I am seeing?

Edited February 5, 2010 by distortedlogic

[gs3]

Here is a llink to a Dever area news report on the announcement. They continually refer to Proterra as a Colorado company that is building a manufacturing plant in SC, and says nothing about moving it's HQ. In addition, this is a link to an "earthtimes" article, an online newspaper; it also says nothing about HQ

relocation.

I have seen several other similar articles and they all say this is for Assembly and RD, but nothing about HQ, while maintaining it is based in Colorado. What source says an HQ will be part of the development, it doesn't look that way from what I am seeing?

Those articles are correct in that it "is currently" a Colorado based company. It "is" building an R&D and manufacturing facility this spring (first building).

Edited February 5, 2010 by gsupstate

[gs3]

Eventual employment could double to 2,600 if international sales materialize as hoped / planned.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20100205/BUSINESS/2050321/Overseas-sales-could-double-Proterra-jobs

[gman430]

Proterra is slated to occupy the former Hitachi plant and hire at least 50 workers while their new plant gets built. They would share the space with the city's Public Works Department. Construction on the new plant is scheduled to start in April 2010. Over $400 million in federal funds from transit agencies nationwide has been requested to buy Proterra buses. I'm sure the company will decide to move the headquarters here sometime within the next few years.

Edited February 5, 2010 by citylife

[vicupstate]

Proterra is slated to occupy the former Hitachi plant and hire at least 50 workers while their new plant gets built. They would share the space with the city's Public Works Department. Construction on the new plant is scheduled to start in April 2010. Over $400 million in federal funds from transit agencies nationwide has been requested to buy Proterra buses. I'm sure the company will decide to move the headquarters here sometime within the next few years.

Interesting. The Hitachi plant has the potential to be a real goldmine ofr the city. After Proterra vacates, a new industry could move in. It could be an industrial incubator of sorts. Could be a real asset when vieing for industry.

[GvilleSC]

That's a great use of the former plant, indeed! Great to hear!

[gs3]

One little tidbit/fact I heard today. Seattle is one of the cities with Proterra buses on order. They have 5 on order currently. If you've been to Seattle, you know a large percentage of their buses are electric and powered from an overhead grid of wires....so Seattle is already into "green" buses....they just have to deal with the ugly system of wires. With such a large fleet, 5 buses is a drop in the bucket....but, seems like the start of something.

[GvilleSC]

One little tidbit/fact I heard today. Seattle is one of the cities with Proterra buses on order. They have 5 on order currently. If you've been to Seattle, you know a large percentage of their buses are electric and powered from an overhead grid of wires....so Seattle is already into "green" buses....they just have to deal with the ugly system of wires. With such a large fleet, 5 buses is a drop in the bucket....but, seems like the start of something.

That's really encouraging/exciting!

It will be great to have these additional 'green' thinkers in Greenville. I think our City attracting companies such as this, along with Upstate Forever, can make a real difference in our future. We've got the DRIVE.

[gman430]

One little tidbit/fact I heard today. Seattle is one of the cities with Proterra buses on order. They have 5 on order currently. If you've been to Seattle, you know a large percentage of their buses are electric and powered from an overhead grid of wires....so Seattle is already into "green" buses....they just have to deal with the ugly system of wires. With such a large fleet, 5 buses is a drop in the bucket....but, seems like the start of something.

http://7thspace.com/...ouse_gases.html

Link Transit will receive $2.9 million to replace five diesel-powered circulator buses with five new Lithium-Ion battery electric-powered buses, purchase two state-of-the-art “rapid recharge” charging stations and supporting equipment at Link Transit’s intermodal transit center, and fund one contracte employee to provide project management and technical oversight. The project is expected to eliminate 688 metric tons of carbon dioxide and equivalents from the air each year, or 8,250 metric tons over the lives of the vehicles.

“The Economic Recovery Act was put in place quickly to rescue the economy from the worst recession since the Great Depression,” said Secretary LaHood. “Today we’re bringing construction jobs and environmentally clean transit to Chelan and Douglas Counties.”

“These funds will create clean-energy jobs and will help Link Transit save on energy costs and reduce pollution in Chelan and Douglas Counties,” said Senator Patty Murray. “Investing in mass transit puts people to work today, helps our commuters, and keeps businesses moving to sustain economic growth in the future.”

Lithium-ion titanate batteries using fast and automated charging technology allow electric buses to be charged in a few minutes instead of a few hours, thereby overcoming a key limitation of previous battery electric buses, and allowing them to provide continuous all-day service. This promising battery technology is being utilized by Proterra LLC under FTA’s National Fuel Cell Bus Program.

Edited February 5, 2010 by citylife

[gman430]

One day after the announcement, Proterra already has bus orders coming in. Can't get much better than that. Oh and check this out: http://www.kingcount...sportation.aspx

Grant: USDOT - Federal Transit Administration.

Project Description: Project. Full Size Fast Charge Battery Electric Bus Deployment Project. This project presents a unique and innovative opportunity for the United States Federal Government, through the Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA), to make a direct capital investment in five distinct public transportation agencies located in three different states. As proposed, the project will significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by the transit bus fleet operations, as well as significant reduction in energy consumption at each of these agencies, and are to be evaluated under both criteria. This will be accomplished by replacing 16 conventionally fueled diesel buses with the EcoRide 35' Composite-Body Electric Transit Bus manufactured by Proterra LLC, headquartered in Golden, Colorado. The expected minimum useful life of capital purchased under this grant is 12-years or 500,000-miles of bus operation.

Edited February 5, 2010 by citylife

[gs3]

http://7thspace.com/...ouse_gases.html

Link Transit will receive $2.9 million to replace five diesel-powered circulator buses with five new Lithium-Ion battery electric-powered buses, purchase two state-of-the-art “rapid recharge” charging stations and supporting equipment at Link Transit’s intermodal transit center, and fund one contracte employee to provide project management and technical oversight. The project is expected to eliminate 688 metric tons of carbon dioxide and equivalents from the air each year, or 8,250 metric tons over the lives of the vehicles.

“The Economic Recovery Act was put in place quickly to rescue the economy from the worst recession since the Great Depression,” said Secretary LaHood. “Today we’re bringing construction jobs and environmentally clean transit to Chelan and Douglas Counties.”

“These funds will create clean-energy jobs and will help Link Transit save on energy costs and reduce pollution in Chelan and Douglas Counties,” said Senator Patty Murray. “Investing in mass transit puts people to work today, helps our commuters, and keeps businesses moving to sustain economic growth in the future.”

Lithium-ion titanate batteries using fast and automated charging technology allow electric buses to be charged in a few minutes instead of a few hours, thereby overcoming a key limitation of previous battery electric buses, and allowing them to provide continuous all-day service. This promising battery technology is being utilized by Proterra LLC under FTA’s National Fuel Cell Bus Program.

Very cool. This must be what the person was talking about.

One question that I haven't seen answered anywhere....are the recharging stations also being manufactured in the same facility as the buses and by Proterra or is there another company manufacturing the recharging stations?

[adrockc2]

Link Transit will receive $2.9 million to replace five diesel-powered circulator buses with five new Lithium-Ion battery electric-powered buses, purchase two state-of-the-art “rapid recharge” charging stations

I wish this said GreenLink instead.

[gman430]

The article states that the recharging stations will be manufactured in Wenatchee, Washington. I'm not sure if that production will move here once Proterra gets their plant up and running or not. Good question though.

I wish this said GreenLink instead.

Currently, 23 public transit agencies in 11 states (California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Washington) and the District of Columbia have submitted grant requests to obtain funds to purchase Proterra buses and charging stations.

http://www.azonano.c...sp?NewsID=14391

I'll give you one guess who the South Carolina transit agency is.

Edited February 5, 2010 by citylife

[gman430]

The winners of the TIGER grant will be unveiled by February 17th. Even if Greenlink isn't successful in landing part of it, let's hope some of the winners include orders for Proterra buses. Oh and two more Proterra buses have been ordered according to page 15 of this document: http://www.nrel.gov/.../pdfs/46490.pdf One for Burbank, CA and one for Fort Lewis in Tacoma, WA.

Edited February 6, 2010 by citylife

[Greenville]

The winners of the TIGER grant will be unveiled by February 17th. Even if Greenlink isn't successful in landing part of it, let's hope some of the winners include orders for Proterra buses. Oh and two more Proterra buses have been ordered according to page 15 of this document: http://www.nrel.gov/.../pdfs/46490.pdf One for Burbank, CA and one for Fort Lewis in Tacoma, WA.

I think we'll get it. We had a very strong application.

Edited February 6, 2010 by Greenville