Proterra launches EV simulator to demo battery-electric transition

Proterra, maker of zero-emission, battery-electric buses in North America, today announced the addition of the Proterra® EV Simulator to their growing suite of products and services. The EV Simulator provides fleet managers with customized, system-level information on electric bus deployment.

Designed to visualize mass transit networks and to assess the cost savings, performance improvements and environmental benefits of battery-electric transport, the Proterra EV Simulator generates a side-by-side comparison of Proterra’s transit solutions with diesel, CNG and hybrid technologies on specified transit routes within a chosen public transit system. (Proterra will display the performance simulator on May 17th at booth #631 during the APTA Bus and Paratransit Conference in Charlotte, N.C.)

Utilizing data that drives Google’s map applications and based on algorithms that are built on performance data from Proterra’s two million miles of real-world experience, the Proterra EV Simulator incorporates a wide variety of variables affecting vehicle performance, including route specifications, local temperatures, passenger load and vehicle efficiency. Proterra’s offering represents the most comprehensive and accurate heavy-duty vehicle performance comparison simulator in the public transit market, according to the company.

The Proterra EV Simulator takes into account energy use of the Proterra electric powertrain and provides an estimated daily route analysis based a specified passenger load, layover times, the number of buses in operation and number of route loops, as well as energy efficiency, vehicle charge time and battery state-of-charge on-route and at the end of the day.

Some of the key calculations include:

• Annual maintenance and operational costs per Proterra bus

• Lifetime maintenance and fuel savings

• Overall Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

• Energy efficiency MPGe

• Total daily distance and energy used per day

• Charge time

“As communities increasingly seek out EV public transit as an alternative to diesel, the Proterra EV Simulator removes all the guesswork from the procurement process, demonstrating the specific route-by-route benefits of fleet electrification,” said Ryan Popple, CEO of Proterra.