{"id":43572,"date":"2015-02-05T04:58:38","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T09:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=43572"},"modified":"2015-02-05T06:18:31","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T11:18:31","slug":"google-launches-free-ev-shuttles-mountain-view-ca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/google-launches-free-ev-shuttles-mountain-view-ca\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Launches Free EV Shuttle Service in Mountain View, CA"},"content":{"rendered":"
Four new 100% electric community shuttle buses have hit the road in the beautiful Silicon Valley city of Mountain View, California. The four electric\u00a0shuttles are free to the public, thanks to Google, and are equipped with seating for 16 passengers, a wheelchair lift, space for two wheelchairs, Wi-Fi connectivity, and bicycle racks on the outside of the shuttle. This sounds more tempting to me than a Tesla.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n The free Mountain View Community Shuttle<\/a> service, funded by Google<\/a>, is designed to move residents and visitors through the city between neighborhoods, shopping centers, medical complexes, city facilities, and recreation areas. These EVs can travel up to 100 miles on a single charge, and offer passengers quiet, comfortable rides. Officials are hoping the new free public transit service will reduce drive-alone traffic, as well as help residents get around town<\/a> in a convenient loop route.<\/p>\n With a wide variety of interesting places to visit in Mountain View, these new electric shuttles are just one more reason to kick myself for moving away from the San Francisco Bay Area. In Mountain View’s Castro Street district alone, there is a weekly farmers’ market, and on special Thursdays, the district transforms into an exciting street fair with lots of arts and crafts vendors, and classic car owners showing off. All the other days of the week are just as charming, too, strolling the multi-cultural blocks of ethnic restaurants and local businesses. And if you get tired of strolling, just hop the EV Shuttle. For free.<\/p>\n “With these four buses, thousands of residents will get to experience firsthand what an electric bus can offer,” said<\/a> Motiv CEO Jim Castelaz. “These buses demonstrate we don’t need to design new vehicles from the ground up to break their reliance on fossil fuel and offer zero-emission vehicle options.”<\/p>\n Motiv Power Systems<\/a>, based in Foster City, California, began designing and building its\u00a0modular, plug and play electric Powertrain Control System (ePCS) in 2009. Motiv states that its\u00a0ePCS is the only product suite in the industry that electrifies a truck or bus chassis as a ship-though option. Using a variety of commercially available battery packs and motors, this innovative process allows for minimal changes between the fossil fuel and electric versions of the final truck or bus.<\/p>\n The Motiv ePCS can be used to create all-electric versions of vehicles such as box trucks, flat-take-bed trucks, refrigerated trucks, utility\/service trucks, shuttle buses, school buses, delivery vehicles, and even garbage trucks. In 2014, Motiv was the first electric truck and bus company in the US to release a production model all-electric school bus<\/a> and the first in North America to release an all-electric garbage truck<\/a>.<\/p>\n The four new white and blue Mountain View Community Shuttles feature a Ford E450 chassis and an Ameritrans 285 shuttle bus body. In the ship-through modification, the Motiv ePCS, battery packs, and the motor are installed in the shuttle, effectively replacing the engine and transmission of the new incomplete chassis. This process is becoming quite common in the truck and bus industry, and is actually very similar to a compressed natural gas ship-through modification.<\/p>\n One of the major cities in California’s Silicon Valley, Mountain View is home to many notable IT companies, including Symantec, Microsoft, Nokia, and of course, Google.<\/a> The famous Googleplex became the new Mountain View headquarters for Google in 2004. Now it is home base for more than 70 offices in over 40 countries around the world.<\/p>\n“We Don’t Need to Design New Vehicles from the Ground Up”<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Mountain View, Home of Google’s Famous Googleplex HQ<\/strong><\/h3>\n