South Carolina’s Proterra Supplies Battery Technology for eMotors

• Proterra and Lightning eMotors expand partnership to power Class 3 through Class 5 commercial electric vehicles using Proterra battery technology
• Expansion of multi-year supply agreement includes battery supply for Lightning eMotors’s strategic partnership with Forest River for Class 4 and 5 zero-emission shuttle buses

Today, Proterra announced an expansion of its partnership with Lightning eMotors to power their Class 4 and Class 5 electric commercial vehicles.

Under a new multi-year supply agreement, Proterra contracted to supply battery systems totaling more than 900 megawatt hours in battery storage capacity to Lightning eMotors to power up to 10,000 electric commercial vehicles between 2022 and 2025.

This includes supplying Lightning eMotors with Proterra H Series battery systems for its strategic partnership with Forest River to co-produce and deploy Class 4 and Class 5 zero-emission, battery-electric shuttle buses.

The expansion builds on Proterra’s previously announced collaboration with Lightning eMotors to power the Class 3 Lightning Electric Transit commercial van using Proterra battery technology. Proterra will now also supply its battery technology to Lightning eMotors for the Lightning Electric E-450 and Lightning Electric F-550 electric commercial vehicles.

“We are delighted to build on our relationship with Lightning eMotors and to extend our battery technology into a greater number of electric commercial vehicles, including delivery trucks, work trucks, shuttle buses, and more,” said Chris Bailey, President of Proterra Powered & Energy. “Together with Lightning eMotors, we’re demonstrating how American technology and manufacturing can lead the way towards a future driven by zero-emission, battery-electric commercial vehicles.”

“We are thrilled to be expanding our relationship with Proterra to power our class 4 and 5 platforms,” said Chelsea Ramm, Vice President of Global Supply Chain at Lightning eMotors. “Proterra battery packs are rightfully perceived by the market as a quality product which gives us both peace of mind for our customers and helps us during the sales process.”

The Lightning Electric Transit van is a purpose-built Class 3 commercial electric vehicle that is available in several popular configurations including last-mile cargo vans, passenger vans, ambulances, school buses, and work vans.

The Lightning Electric E-450 and F-550 commercial electric vehicles are available in a shuttle bus configuration utilizing the various Forest River bus body options, and as a truck including middle mile/last mile delivery trucks, ambulances, and work trucks. Both platforms are planned to have 80kWh-160kWh of Proterra battery packs.

Designed and manufactured in the United States, Proterra battery systems leverages industry-leading energy density and a customizable design to fit within a variety of vehicles. Proterra’s best-in-class battery systems have been proven through more than 20 million service miles driven by Proterra transit vehicles and selected by world-class commercial vehicle manufacturers to power construction equipment, delivery trucks, school buses, coach buses, and low-floor cutaway shuttles.