American Battery Solutions Inc (ABS) states that its Li-Ion batteries have been fully designed, tested, and validated at its engineering and development centre located in Lake Orion with pack production scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2023 at ABS' Springboro, OH manufacturing facility.

Customers will now have the choice of seven or eight packs, increasing the vehicle’s energy capacity by 33% and extending the range by 46 miles.

The contract with Winnipeg Transit stipulates a firm order for 16 electric buses, comprising an equal proportion of battery- and fuel-cell-electric drivelines.

The ‘Xcelsior CHARGE FC’ succeeds the ‘CHARGE H2’ and is fitted with the latest fuel cell power modules and electric motors from Ballard and Siemens respectively.

BAE Systems Inc, based in Endicott, New York, has announced it is supplying powertrain components for 45 Enhanced Electric Hybrid (EEH) hybrid articulating buses sold by Winnipeg, Canada-based New Flyer Industries to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).

According to the terms of the four-year contracts, TTC has placed firm orders for 202 Xcelsior hybrid-electric buses, and it may order up to an additional 263 forty-foot hybrid-electric buses as well as 100 sixty-foot buses.

Hexagon Purus ASA, based in Ålesund, Norway, has been selected to supply hydrogen tanks to New Flyer Industries, based in Winnipeg, Canada, for use in its Xcelsior CHARGE H2 fuel cell transit bus. The total value of the contract is estimated at around USD2 million.

220 BAE-powered Xcelsior hybrid buses will be delivered to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, with options to purchase up to 120 more.

Up to 114 Xcelsior CHARGE and CHARGE NG electric buses have been ordered by public transport operators based in New Jersey, Colorado, and Rhode Island.

NFI will be offering a battery recycling service to all of its North American customers - the deal applies to all of its subsidiaries. This is an extension of a pilot programme between NFI subsidiary New Flyer and Li-Cycle launched earlier this year.

The five-year contract between New Flyer and CapMetro provides for the supply of up to 171 electric buses, which NFI claims is the largest such contract in the USA to date.

The five-year contract was signed with Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority of Buffalo, New York.