A Colorado electric bus-manufacturing company's decision to open a huge plant in South Carolina instead of Mooresville has left officials here bitterly disappointed.
Proterra Inc., of Golden, Colo., announced last Thursday it will begin operating a $30 million, 250,000-square-foot plant at Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research (ICAR) in Greenville, S.C., early next year.
The company said it could create as many as 2,600 jobs in Greenville over the next seven years -- double the 1,300 it has promised state officials -- if overseas business materializes as expected, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Granato said at a news conference.
Proterra develops and assembles drive and energy storage systems for heavy-duty vehicles, including a fast-charge, electric-battery transit bus. Its focus on alternative energy vehicles -- including those powered by hydrogen fuel cells -- had made it a prime target of Mooresville for the past 2 1/2 years, in part because of Mooresville's growing status as a major statewide player in hydrogen and electric-propulsion technology.
In fact, one Mooresville alternative-energy advocate said he felt Race City USA was the leader to get the plant until last October.
"In 2007, when (then-mayor) Bill Thunberg and I brought (Proterra founder and chairman) Dale Hill to Mooresville, I frankly thought the town -- or at least the state -- had it made," said Stan Thompson, who is perhaps Mooresville's leading proponent of hydrogen fuel technology.
"Dale came because he shares our belief that hydrogen will be the transit fuel of the near future -- especially for streetcars, or what we're calling 'hydrolleys.' He had lived in Charlotte and likes the state."
Last August, Hill even brought Proterra's hydrogen bus prototype to North Carolina to show to state commerce and transportation officials.
But by last October, "North Carolina had suddenly become a distant fourth behind South Carolina, Ohio and Indiana, who were going all-out to recruit Proterra," said Thompson.
"We gave it our all. If Mooresville came up short, it wasn't for want of effort. The hydrogen economy is still in its infancy. Maybe next time."
Russell Rogerson, executive director of the Mooresville South Iredell Economic Development Corp., echoed Thompson's dismay at losing out on Proterra.
"We are certainly disappointed that Proterra has chosen to locate in Greenville over Mooresville or the Charlotte region, but they are still within reach for local companies to become suppliers for the electric bus company," Rogerson said.
"Soon after we began serious discussions around Proterra locating in Mooresville, the company decided that they preferred locating in an existing 300,000-square-foot or larger facility of which we did not have to offer."
Proterra's Hill said the company's vehicle systems are modules that can be incorporated into various kinds of vehicles -- trucks and delivery vans as well as buses -- that might be made by Proterra or other companies.
"Our game plan is to have a whole family of vehicles over the next five or six years using our technology, and I can't even begin to tell you where that's going to go," he told the Greenville (S.C.) News.
Granato told the newspaper that the prospect of collaborating with researchers at ICAR was the biggest reason Proterra chose Greenville. Also, Clemson University gave Proterra a seat on the ICAR board, which means the company will have influence on the research agenda at the graduate school of automotive engineering there, the newspaper said.
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