The new Motor Coach Industries battery-electric motorcoach, the D45 CRTe LE CHARGE, is on a demonstration tour that will eventually lead to Altoona for federal certification testing.
“Over the next three months we’re creating opportunities for private and public transportation leaders in California and other states to test our next-generation D-Series coach, a zero-emission, all-electric vehicle built for the highway,” said Patrick Scully, MCI vice president of sales, marketing and customer service.
The tour began on Oct. 28, when FlixBus put the D45 CRTe LE CHARGE in service on its Sacramento-San Francisco route for evaluation. The coach visited public transit providers across California in November.
MCI is planning to launch customer deliveries of the D45 CRTe LE CHARGE and its long-range J4500e CHARGE, the electric version of its luxury tour and charter coach, in 2020.
“We will be prepared to deliver a 100-percent electric coach that performs the same or better than our current clean diesel, hybrid and CNG models,” said Tom Wagner, MCI vice president of public sector. “Our electric development has been accelerated with the assistance from our sister company (New Flyer), supporting us with their many years of experience producing electric buses.”
