Kiel North America, a seat provider to transit systems around the world, announced that the company is delivering its lightweight, fuel-saving seating solutions for one of North America’s greenest fleets in public transportation. The project is developed in collaboration with Complete Coach Works (CCW), the largest U.S. bus remanufacturing and rehabilitation company, and will be introduced to Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation (IndyGo) customers this year.

The recent acquisition of en entirely green fleet marks a historic change even for IndyGo who has a long-standing commitment to incorporate environmentally sustainable practices into its operations. “This project is coming at a time when our ridership is at a record high, with over 10 million trips in 2014. The project is another opportunity to show the forward thinking and progressive work being done, creating more interest in public transportation,” said Mike Terry, president/CEO at IndyGo.

In an effort to increase service to customers and operational savings at the same time while being kind to the environment, refurbishing existing buses into Zero Emission Propulsion System vehicles (ZEPS) was an ideal choice, according to the company. Remanufacturing vehicles not only saves valuable resources and reduces carbon emissions that would go into the manufacturing process of brand new buses, but can be a huge budget saver as well.

The nation’s largest remanufactured bus fleet runs on lithium-ion batteries that will be recharged by a newly installed array of high-efficiency solar panels located on the main garage of the transportation corporation. Unlike vehicles powered with diesel, IndyGo’s electric buses omit no harmful CO2-gases or noise in an effort to reduce air and noise pollution.

In order for the buses to have a range of 130 miles per charge it was imperative to keep the overall weight of the vehicles as low as possible. Using a lightweight seating option for each of the ZEPS’s 39 passenger seats has been a key factor in creating what is likely the most energy efficient public transportation fleet in North America. With IDEO, Complete Coach Works incorporated one of Kiel’s most popular seating model for city transport solutions. 

“This project is proving to be one of our most ambitious yet,” commented Richard Sullivan, VP, sales and marketing at Complete Coach Works.“Such a lightweight all-electric bus could not be executed without innovative materials, and Kiel North America was the perfect company to partner up with for quality seating.”

Left on purpose without upholstery option, each double seat weighs only 45 lbs. yet provides an optimum of comfort for riders through its ergonomically formed design. The slim contour of the seat’s back offers a maximum of legroom for passengers and enhanced accessibility getting in and out of the seat. Designed as a modular system, IDEO’s innovative pedestal mounting system adapts effortlessly to almost any installation requirement, which provides a time and cost saving advantage during the design and installation process, and further reduces operational costs by being extremely easy to clean, replace, and maintain.

Easy-to-use, ADA-compliant flip-up seats to accommodate passengers in wheelchairs round off the top-quality features of the seat that Kiel manufactures at its production plant in Indiana.