Golden, Colorado-based Proterra, a manufacturer of zero emission city buses and other electric vehicles, has raised $20M in a new venture funding round, the firm said this month. According to the firm, the round came from MK Energy and Infrastructure, LLC, and will go towards building a full-scale, manufacturing plant in Greenville, S.C.
The company said that the manufacturing plant will produce 2,500 electric buses a year, and employ around 1,300 workers over the next five years. The company claims its EcoRide bus will provide 500% better fuel efficiency than conventional diesel buses, and 400% greater efficiency than hybrid buses.
Proterra is headed by Jeffery Granato. Proterra ProDrive power systems are available for both pure electric and hybrid commercial vehicles.
Provo, Utah-based Raser Technologies has hired four former General Motors executives this month, to lead the firm's plug-in hybrid electric vehicle program for fleet trucks.
David J. Stenson is Chief of Operations for its Transportation Division, which now includes Nicholas Zielinski, Joseph R. Katona, and William G. Shikany. All four are located in Detroit. Stenson has served as Chief Technical Office of HUMMER, and also had served as Executive Director of Global Engineering Design and Release, Chief Engineer of GM de Mexico and Vehicle Line Director, Pontiac Solstice.
Zielinski was most recently Vehicle Chief Engineer for Advanced System Integration at GM, and worked on the Chevrolet Volt and Equinox Fuel Cell. Katona was Director of Vehicle Architecture at GM. Shikany was GM's Global Technical Lead Director for Restraint Systems.
100mpg Hummer hybrid
Source: Razer Technologies
Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc., announces its Clandestine Electric Reconnaissance Vehicle (CERV), an all-wheel-drive diesel hybrid electric vehicle designed by Quantum and TARDEC's National Automotive Center (NAC) with funding support from the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).
The unit can maintain speeds of 80 miles per hour and climb 60 percent grades - all while reducing fuel consumption by up to 25 percent compared with conventional vehicles of comparable size. QT has developed a land-based V22 hybrid reconnaissance surveillance and targeting vehicle "RSTV", a hybrid FMTV truck and a hybrid line hauler.
The development budget granted by the US military for the projects was $43 million.
CERV
Source: Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide
The US electric vehicle manufacturing industry is backed by a formidable base of university research such as that at the center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems at VirginiaTech and the University of California Davis.
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