First in the US: Utility company to use electric buses to shuttle employees

Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) unveiled one of its two state-of-the-art electric buses that will shuttle employees between its downtown Baltimore headquarters and its Spring Gardens campus in south Baltimore.

BGE is the first company in Baltimore City to have an electric bus vehicle fleet and the first utility company in the nation to incorporate electric shuttle buses into its fleet of vehicles. The second bus will arrive next month. Employees will have access to parking at the company's Spring Gardens campus, including newly installed electric vehicle charging stations that are located at each of BGE's work locations throughout central Maryland. According to BGE, the 40-foot, zero-emission, heavy-duty vehicles will eliminate the need for more than 11,000 gallons of diesel fuel and eliminate more than 480,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) annually.

The two buses will come from Proterra, a leading designer and manufacturer of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles. The two buses are 40’ Proterra Catalyst E2. Proterra has sold more than 546 vehicles to 67 different municipals, university, airport, federal and commercial transit agencies in 30 states of the US.

BGE aims to make Maryland a national leader in electric vehicle charging networks and Maryland Public Service Commission has considered a proposal to create a statewide electric vehicle portfolio with 24,000 chargers, making the state the second largest electric vehicle charging network in the US. BGE and it's sister-utilities DPL and Pepco are among the signatories of that proposal. BGE is America's first and largest natural gas and electric utility company.