Northern California receives first battery-powered buses

A battery-powered bus built by Proterra. (Photo: Proterra)A battery-powered bus built by Proterra. (Photo: Proterra)

The California Energy Commission has purchased the first two battery-powered buses for Northern California, KCET reported.

The commission purchased the fast-charging buses, built by Proterra, with a $2.56 million grant through the AB118 Air Quality Improvement Program. The buses will be part of the San Joaquin Regional Transit District’s fleet in Stockton, California.

The grant also covers costs for an automatic charging station that will guide an approaching battery-powered bus into position and charge the bus for 10 minutes–long enough to power the bus for two hours. California-based AeroVironment built the charging stations.

Buses that are similar to those in Stockton are already fully-operational with Foothill Transit in Pomona.