Motiv Power Systems has announced its commencing sales of all-electric EPIC 4 Series Dearborn chassis with Champion Bus. The new zero emissions shuttles feature the Challenger EV body manufactured by Champion in Imlay City, Michigan. Based on the popular Ford E-450 platform, the EPIC chassis-equipped Champion Challenger EV is the first of its kind OEM integration for the North American shuttle bus market.
“We are excited to be part of this program with Champion,” said Kash Sethi, director of sales for Motiv Power Systems. “With fixed routes and high fuel costs, we’ve long seen the shuttle bus market as an ideal use case for the EPIC Chassis. Past deployments have borne this out and having Champion on board as an OEM marks the realization of this vision on a much larger scale”.
“Both from an economic and carbon reduction standpoint, we have strong demand for clean energy alternatives to gasoline and diesel in the shuttle bus market,” said David Rhode, vice president and general manager, of REV Bus Imlay City. “Our integration with Motiv Power Systems helps meet this demand with the proven EPIC chassis, approved by Ford through its rigorous QVM standards, to deliver the performance and reliability that our customers have come to expect from Champion.”
Offering comparable performance to combustion engine powered shuttle buses, the Challenger EV is capable of meeting a wide variety of range requirements, while continuing to offer smooth, quiet operation with minimal maintenance and service needs. The total ownership cost of Challenger EVs will be below comparable fossil fueled shuttles, when factoring in the 85 percent reduction in operating costs and 66 percent reduction in maintenance costs that they represent, as well as the number of national and state subsidy programs for which they are eligible.
The launch of the Challenger EV represents an alignment of two established market leaders: Champion’s Challenger series has become the benchmark by which shuttle buses are judged while Motiv’s EPIC chassis has logged more than 350,000 real-world miles in Fortune 50 fleet deployments nationwide. Challenger EVs are available for immediate purchase exclusively through Champion Bus dealers with deliveries commencing in the third quarter of 2018.
