Motor Coach Industries (MCI), the US subsidiary of New Flyer Industries Inc. (NFI Group), the largest transit bus and motor coach manufacturer and parts distributor in North America, announced that its all-electric J4500e prototype—a battery-electric version of J4500 coach—successfully completed its phase one testing. MCI said that the coach ran flawlessly at both low and high speeds up to a sustained 70 mph (113 km/h) on the highway. The all-electric J4500e coach is on schedule for January 2020 production and orders are being taken now. The electric architecture incorporated in the MCI J4500e features a high-torque 2130 lb-ft (2888 N·m) Siemens electric drive system and a 450 kWh Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) Li-ion battery pack with high power plug-in battery charging to 100% in less than three hours. MCI will also apply the battery-electric platform to the D45 CRT LE Commuter Coach followed by the electric 35-foot MCI J […]