Bus builder may move here

By John Boyanoski  

FEBRUARY 2, 2010 2:08 p.m. (0)

About 300 jobs – a quarter of the five-year rollout totals – could be coming to Greenville later this year as part of an expansion by an Colorado-based company that makes zero emission parts for buses and trucks.

Proterra LLC is expected to announce Thursday the creation of a manufacturing facility at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research that will make products such as hybrid and battery-electric buses that are on average 10,000 pounds lighter than traditional buses, sources told the Journal.

The company will employ 1,300 once it is up and running within five years. It will be housed in a building which will start construction later this year.

City, county, state and Clemson leaders are expected to attend Thursday’s event. All cited confidentially reasons and could not publicly comment on the project.

State leaders have been actively seeking “green” companies in the last few years to help jumpstart South Carolina job market, which hit a 12.5 percent unemployment rate at the end of 2009. That is the highest rate in state history.

Proterra was formed in 2004 and designs and manufactures a patented clean transit technology for buses and trucks. The buses costs $1 million – about double the cost of a diesel bus – but save money in the long run on fuel costs.

The company began looking for a new manufacturing site last summer and had hoped to make an announcement by October. It is moving its manufacturing location to be closer to the majority of its clients on the East Coast.

Cleveland had been on the short list of potential places.

In 2006, the Federal Transit Administration selected Proterra – then known as Mobile Energy Solutions – to help lead a $13.1 million-demonstration fleet for  hybrid-electric hydrogen fuel cell buses in Alabama, Connecticut, and South Carolina.

The company’s buses were shown around Washington, D.C. in November, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was one of the federal leaders who took a turn driving one of the buses during the display to highlight their cost effectiveness.

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