Congress Gets a Zero Emissions Electric Bus

While Congressmen struggle with climate legislation and clean energy reform, at least they'll be able to get an emissions-free ride to the proceedings. The Proterra electric bus made its debut on Capitol Hill yesterday, and looks set to deliver zero emission, fast-charging public transportation. More pics after the jump.

The companies Proterra and Altair Nanotechnologies partnered to bring the bus to DC. Altair is fueled by some green stimulus bill funding, and hopes to get the bus into circulation in more metropolitan areas--it was specifically designed to meet California's uber strict upcoming fuel economy standards.

Here's the lowdown, via Autoblog Green: the bus has a

MPG equivalent of "18 and 29 miles per gallon diesel fuel equivalent fully loaded with 68 passengers -- 500% better than a comparable diesel bus," similar to numbers discussed when the bus was touring California and Pennsylvania earlier this year.

But an impressive mpg isn't all this bus offers. The super-fast charging capability is a major draw as well:

One of the technical advances that makes a lot of sense on this bus is the rooftop FastCharging hook-up. Proterra says this allows the Altairnano batteries to be recharged in 5-10 minutes. Earlier, we heard the bus would be able to go around 30-40 miles per charge, but this range has been dropped from the most recent press materials.

Read the full report at Autoblog Green.

More on Zero Emissions Buses
Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Buses Planned for 2010 Olympics
Zero Emission Urban Mass Transit - The Buscycle