According to Shawn Furman, Sales Manager for Optimal EV’s transit business, who spoke to T&BB at the latest ACT Expo, the company has preferred to keep a low profile over the last couple of years, especially given the bad press which EVs are receiving. While competitors such as Lightning eMotors have gone under, Optimal EV has been quietly working away on its main offerings, an electric chassis-cab and a battery electric low floor shuttle bus.

Optimal EV is now offering a retrofit service to operators with diesle vehicles based on the Ford E-450 cutaway chassis; the work will be carried out at one of Fontaine Modification's post-production truck modification centres.

Proterra will supply a minimum of 600 vehicles, including Vicinity Lightning transit buses and Vicinity Motor's truck chassis platform, with batteries through 2024.

The Canadian manufacturer will deliver 100 VMC 1200 trucks in Q2 2022; it also received an order for over 150 VMC Optimal E1 Electric Chassis from Olathe Fleet Solutions.

Vicinity Motor now has exclusive distribution rights to the Optimal S1 and E1, under the 'VMC Optimal' brand-name, in Canada and the USA.

Optimal Electric Vehicles LLC has announced it is working in a new partnership with heavy-duty electric transportation company, Proterra Inc, to use Proterra’s battery technology and charging systems for the development of an all-electric S1LF low-floor cutaway shuttle bus for the North American market.