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According to Proterra<\/a>, a Burlingame, Ca.-based company, its zero-emission electric buses can drive a stunning 350 miles one charge\u00a0\u2014 and on city streets, no less.<\/p>\n With that kind of claim, it\u2019s no wonder investors just poured $140 million into the outfit, which began garnering heightened press attention last year but has been quietly working on its technology for the last 12 years, raising a previous\u00a0$150 million in equity and debt over that period.<\/p>\n Among its new and earlier investors: Tao Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, GM Ventures, Constellation Technology Ventures, Obvious Ventures, 88 Green Ventures, Edison Energy,\u00a0and Middle East Venture Partners.<\/p>\n What excites these VCs are, at least in part, the\u00a0environmental benefits that Proterra is promising. Even diesel-fueled city buses reduce greenhouse gas emissions <\/a>thanks to the number of people\u00a0they carry versus passenger cars.\u00a0 Electric buses can reduce them even further (unless, as Wired has pointed out, a city derives all of its electricity by burning coal<\/a>).<\/p>\n Yet Proterra\u2019s buses are\u00a0likely compelling to municipalities for a host of other reasons, including a regenerative breaking system that can almost fully recharge each\u00a0bus\u2019s two mattress-sized battery packs via\u00a0kinetic energy, and less onerous maintenance costs. (Electric drive trains generally suffer less wear and tear, as Proterra is keen to point out to reporters.)<\/p>\n As for how many are willing to pay for the buses, which cost $799,000 \u2014 or twice as much as diesel buses \u2014 the answer is plenty, seemingly. Proterra\u2019s sales more than doubled in 2016 from the previous year, according to the company. More specifically, Proterra\u00a0says it has so far sold more than 300 vehicles to 35 city, university, and commercial transit agencies throughout North America.<\/p>\n For added context, the company, which also offers a no-money-down leasing model, says its buses accounted for\u00a01 percent of new bus orders in the U.S. in 2015. it believes that\u00a0number reached 5 percent in 2016.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Article source: https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2017\/01\/03\/this-electric-bus-company-just-raised-140-million\/?ncid=rss<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" According to Proterra, a Burlingame, Ca.-based company, its zero-emission electric buses can drive a stunning 350 miles one charge\u00a0\u2014 and on city streets, no less. With that kind of claim, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-2584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-networking-and-communication","tag-network-and-communication"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t