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Headquartered in Silicon Valley, in Burlingame, California, Proterra is a commercial battery pack manufacturer producing its solutions in Greer, South Carolina. As a trusted electrification partner for heavyduty transportation and equipment manufacturers, Proterra delivers innovative battery solutions that perform in the most challenging environments. Chris Bailey, Chief Executive Officer, discusses recent developments within the company as well as its newly launched products.
“ Our company’ s roots trace back to 2004 in Colorado where the original company served as a manufacturer of transit buses. Our technological evolution started with hydrogen fuel cell-based solutions and quickly evolved into fully electric powertrains which utilized batteries with a smaller capacity. At the time, our thesis for electric transit buses relied on the assumption that large-scale charging infrastructure would become readily available, which would allow for the integration of smaller batteries in the buses. As it turned out, it was much harder to install the necessary infrastructure than to directly equip the buses with batteries that would enable the bus to operate an entire day. Therefore, in 2015, Proterra decided to establish its own engineering organization dedicated to advancing battery technology for commercial vehicles. This initiative led to the development of a series of battery technologies that became integral to various generations of its own electric transit buses. These purposebuilt batteries were not only applicable for Proterra’ s products, but became key enablers in the broader commercial vehicle marketplace, which was simultaneously undergoing its own evolution,” he begins.
Between 2018 and 2019, Proterra expanded its reach by starting to serve customers beyond its own operations and selling its products to leading companies like Van Hool, Alexander Dennis, Daimler Truck North
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