GILLIG Reports Battery Electric Bus Gets Record-Breaking Score At Altoona

GILLIG, a manufacturer of heavy-duty, clean-energy transit buses, has announced that it has received the highest-ever score for a battery electric bus tested at Altoona, PA, with a total score of 89.5.

The Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Bus Test Program, conducted by the Larson Transportation Institute’s Bus Research and Testing Center, in Altoona, evaluates how well vehicles perform under conditions that simulate the rigorous duty cycles required of transit buses.

To be eligible for purchase with federal grant funding, such as the recently awarded $1.66 billion in FTA grants, all buses must demonstrate that they meet, or exceed, performance minimums. The comprehensive testing assesses key performance areas, such as maintainability, reliability, safety, structural integrity, noise, fuel economy, and emissions. The FTA introduced a 100-point scoring system in 2016 to better inform buyers by offering an unbiased, standardized assessment of vehicle durability, safety, and performance.

According to a GILLIG press release, “With an overall score of 89.5 out of 100, GILLIG’s Battery Electric Bus far exceeds the Altoona minimum standards and passed all pass/fail performance tests, qualifying for purchase with federal funding (as all GILLIG buses are). Performing beyond Altoona’s requirements, GILLIG’s 40’ bus scored exceptionally well in all evaluated categories, and broke the previous highest records for reliability and safety performance.”

The release added: “In addition to proving GILLIG’s commitment to quality, the results also clearly demonstrate GILLIG’s dedication to safety. The GILLIG Battery Electric Bus received the highest score ever in the critical braking test.”

“We talk a lot about ‘quality without compromise,’” GILLIG VP of Product Planning and Strategy Ben Grunat said. “These scores demonstrate exactly what that means; our product being the safest and most reliable Zero Emission Bus on the market is not our goal. Rather, it’s GILLIG’s standard.”

Visit www.gillig.com for more information.