Proterra’s new Powered 1 factory in Greer, South Carolina, has produced its first EV battery.

The Burlingame, California-based maker of electric buses, drive trains, and chargers for heavy-duty commercial vehicles is expected to begin deliveries of battery systems from its South Carolina factory in the first quarter of 2023.

Powered 1 has started production of drivetrains and other ancillary systems, such as high-voltage junction boxes, that are part of electric medium- and heavy-duty EVs.

Powered 1 is Proterra’s first battery production plant in the Eastern US with multiple gigawatt hours of annual production capacity planned at the factory. It’s Proterra’s third battery factory in the US.

Proterra has already created more than 100 new jobs at the 327,000-square-foot Greer factory, which it announced only a year ago. Proterra currently has a facility in Greenville, South Carolina, but batteries aren’t made there.

Proterra CEO Gareth Joyce said in a statement:

At full scale, we believe Powered 1 will be the largest battery manufacturing facility in the United States dedicated exclusively to electric commercial vehicles and we’re poised to meet the incredible opportunities that lie ahead for zero-emission transportation.

The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley, where it performs much of its R&D and battery engineering. In December 2020, Proterra opened a battery factory in the same location as its EV bus manufacturing facility in metro Los Angeles.

Read more: Komatsu’s first electric mid-size hydraulic excavator packs a Proterra battery

Photos: Proterra

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