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Los Angeles needs to field an entirely electric fleet of buses by the year2030. The LA just took a major step toward making that a reality. The Department of Transportation of the city runs the largest municipal transit in the county has acquired 25 smaller 35-feet Catalyst buses of Proterra and its entire new fleet will arrive in 2019. It might not sound like much, but it’s a meaningful chunk of the 359-bus fleet of Department of Transportation. This deal also promises real savings and it would eliminate 7.8 million lbs. of greenhouse gas emissions per year. It would also save 11.2 million U.S dollars in energy and maintenance over 12 years. It shouldn’t be considered the first step toward electrifying mass transit in the area of Los Angeles and it is one of the major examples.

The Department of Transportation has given away just 4 buses at the beginning of 2017, so this is specifically a much powerful commitment. It is important that it isn’t just from an American company, but it is from a company whose manufacturing is even located in the county. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the region bought 95 buses in the month of July, but they were split between BYD (Chinese transportation giant) and New Flyer (the American division of Canada). It would represent a major order for Proterra. It had received 375 bus orders at the start of 2017. This is a major deal for a firm that’s still hitting its stride. It has shown that it’s earning the trust of some major cities.