Greenville will finally have its own (electric) buses on its streets.
In 2010, Proterra (which creates electric busses) moved their HQ to Greenville from Golden, Co., as a startup. In 2015, they moved their official HQ to Silicon Valley but kept their SE hub + manufacturing facility off I-85. (Right next to Brewery 85).
And almost seven years later, we’re putting the “Green” into Greenville.
GreenLink (the City of Greenville’s transit authority system) + Proterra teamed up to write a grant proposal requesting $5.8M from the Federal Transit Administration which would help replace five of their 17 bus fleet with zero-emission buses.
And, Friday, Greenlink was granted $1.45M, which will cover two zero-emission buses + two charging stations.
$55 million was distributed this year by the FTA in “Low-no” (low or no emission) grants and 51 projects in 39 states will be receiving a piece of the funds.
But what makes a Proterra bus different than a traditional bus?
- Emissions are reduced by an average of 243,980 lbs. of CO2 each year for every time a diesel vehicle is replaced by a zero-emission bus
GreenLink director Gary Shepard hopes that at least half of the city’s fleet will be running or alternative fuels or electric. But for now, we’re looking forward to having Proterras smooth, clean vehicles hitting our streets.
