UQM technology showcased on battery-bus tour

UQM Technologies production line at Fredersick, CO - source: UQM

FREDERICK – UQM Technologies Inc. (NYSE Alternext US: UQM) is along for the ride in a battery-powered electric bus making a showcase tour of four California cities.

Fredierick-based UQM develops electric motors and power controllers. The company’s PowerPhase 150 propulsion system powers the EcoRide BE35 battery-electric transit bus, which was built by Golden-based Proterra LLC. The bus is touted as zero-emission, fast-charge and virtually silent. The bus will make stops in San Jose, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Francisco.

UQM’s propulsion system allows the bus to recapture more than 90 percent of its kinetic energy during braking.

“The fact is, emissions-free transit is not a ‘nice to have,’ it is a ‘must have’ for clean, healthy communities across California and the U.S., and UQM’s powerful and highly efficient electric propulsion system is a key component in achieving this objective,” said Dale Hill, founder and chief technology officer of Proterra, in a prepared statement.

Alternatives taking us away from petroleum power light up the imagination!