"Proterra uses a type of battery chemistry—lithium titanate—that it says allows the batteries to be recharged in less than 10 minutes every few hours all day and still last eight years or more. Such frequent and fast charging would damage other lithium-ion batteries, rendering them useless after just a few years, Granato says. Proterra has also developed an automated charging system. As the bus approaches a charging station, it communicates wirelessly with an overhead charging arm, which takes control of the motion of the bus as it passes underneath, stopping it when the charger is in place. The bus can charge as passengers get on and off. If the bus travels a route that doesn't completely deplete the battery, it can be topped off in just a couple of minutes, Granato says."
MIT Technology Review
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