USA Van Hool is to introduce a fully electric-powered coach, the CX45E, to the North American market in 2019.
The Belgium manufacturer selected Proterra, a leading American producer of battery technology for heavy-duty vehicles, to provide the E2 battery technology.
The 100% electric-powered coach will have a range of more than 300km and will be primarily used for travel between home and work for groups of employees and/or regular transports of passengers over shorter distances. The vehicle will be designed and developed by Van Hool at Koningshooikt in Belgium, and that’s where the first prototypes will be built. Just like the CX35, the CX45 is currently built at Van Hool’s plant in Skopje, Macedonia, so production CX45Es will be assembled there as well.
“This announcement is the icing on the cake as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the cooperation between Van Hool and its exclusive partner ABC Bus Companies Inc. in the North American market,” said Filip Van Hool, CEO of Van Hool. “After all these years of hard work to meet to our customers’ high expectations, we, together, have succeeded in putting Van Hool on the map in the United States. Today over 10,000 Van Hool coaches and buses are operating on North-American roads, including a number of large Silicon Valley companies that organise shuttle services for their employees as well as many other customers.
“After receiving requests from a number of customers for a fully electric-powered coach, we at Van Hool sought a solution. Van Hool is truly excited and proud to partner up with Proterra, a pioneering company in the development and production of battery technology. The diesel CX45 coach has a proven track record, and in the meantime has become a benchmark coach on the American market. The integration of Proterra´s battery technology into the CX will take this coach to the next level. It’s a clear statement as to Van Hool´s long-term commitment to the North American coach market, while also showing how quickly we can respond to the needs of our customers.”
The CX45E will be followed later by the shorter CX35E and both share the Proterra E2 battery technology. It’s the same battery technology with which the world record was recently set with a range of 1,101.2 miles on a single charge. First deliveries are anticipated during the first half of 2019.
