Fresh off last month’s successful debut of their electric coach charging facility, the largest of its kind with space for charging up to 40 coaches at a time, ABC Companies is now fully into its Phase II Zero Emissions Cross Country Tour, which kicked off late last month from the facility in Newark, California.The company had previously embarked on a tour between California and its Florida headquarters to demonstrate the viability of their fully electric motorcoaches, the Van Hool CX45E and TDX25E, using public charging along the way and testing it against real-world conditions.
James Wang of Peoria Coach checks out the fully electric Van Hool TDX25E 45' double deck coach
ABC will again put their product to the test—this time a fully electric Van Hool TDX25E 45’ double deck coach, equipped with a Proterra battery system—for the nearly 2,800-mile trek. The tour will showcase ABC’s growing lineup of electric offerings, but also shine a light on the need for dedicated commercial passenger vehicle charging infrastructure specifically designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles.
Enlisting the help of James Wang of Peoria Charter (Peoria, Illinois), who is also the face behind the Motorcoach World Youtube channel, ABC is hoping to gain brutally honest feedback from Wang. He will also document his journey to Florida on his channel; the bus is equipped with Starlink to accommodate the streaming.
ABC CEO Roman Cornell (center) with Dennis Utley (left) and James Wang of Peoria Coach
“After seeing how James and his Motorcoach World channel was trying to objectively educate the industry on various technologies, motorcoaches, and trends, I knew James was the man for the job,” said ABC CEO Roman Cornell. “He is not afraid to provide an authentic review and he will share the good, the bad, and even the ugly, but always in an objective way, through the lens of a motorcoach operator. With electric Van Hool motorcoaches making up over 20 percent of our total deliveries by the end of this year, we need people like James to provide the facts about what these EVs can and just importantly, cannot do in operation. … But this trip is about more than the vehicles, it is about raising awareness for desperately needed public charging infrastructure that can handle a 45’ motorcoach, or other medium or heavy commercial vehicles. With so much federal funding earmarked for infrastructure designed to accelerate use of EVs, we have become acutely aware that there is not nearly enough awareness or focus on large commercial vehicles who will have to rely on publicly available charging. … James and his Motorcoach World YouTube channel, along with our continued efforts through the ABC Companies Zero Emissions Tour, will help amplify this need until we can get more organizations and government focused on addressing this growing need.”
“We are ecstatic that James and his colleague Dennis Utley will be taking on the challenge. They will be accompanied by James’ family and Dennis’ wife, so while we have made several cross-country trips before, this is the first that also includes passengers. James and the crew will be live streaming each day, giving followers the opportunity to follow along his journey and learn what electric motorcoaches and their required charging needs are all about. … We already know the coach is completely capable of making the trip as it has several times before, but the variable is always the charging infrastructure. James and his channel will help share what works and what does not work when it comes to charging, and this sharing of the experience will no doubt bring critical awareness to the need for publicly available heavy commercial vehicle charging infrastructure,” said ABC VP of Marketing Thom Peebles.
Visit abc-companies.com for more information.