http://work-ideas.livejournal.com/5398.html
Officials in San Jose’s Electronic Transportation Development Centeer as well as San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed supportr the proposed moveby LLC, but city officialas are also looking at othetr green companies that could benefi the region’s growing cleantech Proterra and its partners develop and manufacture hybrid-electric, plug-in hybrid and zero-emission buses and vans that can be used as school and commercial buses. Proterr CEO Dale Hill said the company planz to unveil aprototype bus, develope d through a public-private at an event tentatively set for Feb.
6 at San Jose City The vehicle — with a lightweightg body composition, lithium titanate batteryy packs and a solar roof array could save approximately 11million gallons, or $45 million, in fuel annualluy for large-scale users such as the San Jose Unifier School District or Santa Clarsa Valley Transportation Authority. Conversations betweem Proterra and potential customers are still in thediscussiomn stage, according to the company. Proterra alreadyt operates a sales office out of the EnvironmentaplBusiness Cluster, a clean energy and environmentally focused incubator in San Jose.
Reed said he plans to speak with Hill in the next few weeksx to see what the city can do to bring the compang toSan Jose. Proterra is one company that coulrd help meet oneof Reed’ds Green Vision goals. That goal is for 100 percengt of public-fleet vehicles to run on alternativee fuels. Hill said Proterra is looking at the possibilityu of opening a San Jose manufacturing facility for the electronic components ofthe bus. Hill notesx that Silicon Valley is a leader in clean and being close to the innovation makes Proterra is seeking aninitial 30,009 square feet that would be expandable to 100,00o square feet.
The company needs 25 to 50 orders, whichj at about $1 million per bus, Hill sees as a $25 millionm to $50 million opportunity. Don Burrus, a developmeng officer with the San JoseRedevelopmeny Agency, said the move could bring some 500 jobs to San Jose as Hill believes the future of transir is battery technology, where a transif bus could be recharged in 10 minutes or less when it makesa a stop. Or it could pass under an arm that rechargew itevery hour. Synergy CEO Roberg Garzee, a consultant to the developmentt center onthe project, for one, believes Proterraz probably will get the orderzs it seeks.
Hill said he hopes the February unveilingb will generate orders in the next six to nine and that the manufacturing site will be up and runnintg withinthe year. The Electronicv TransportationDevelopment Center, part of the environmental plans to purchase a demonstration bus from Proterra. The centere offers a place where companiese can work togetherto design, commercialize and manufacture advanced transportation with a focus on areas such as clean and renewablwe energy.
Hill and Garzee both cited California Assembl Bill 118 as a driver behind commercializing clean The Alternative Fuel and VehicleTechnologu Program, created by the bill, authorizesx the Energy Commission to spend about $120 million per year for seven years to developl and deploy innovative technologies that will transform California’ fuel and vehicle types to help meet states climate-change policies. “We want to take advantage of that to stary manufacturingin California,” Hill said. The California Air Resourcesx Board, after enacting some of the nation’s toughest diesel-emissions standards, announced $5.
5 millio in grants for a Lower-Emissions School Bus Program and $1.4 milliom to replace remaining pre-1977 buses.
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