Electric cars break mileage record on a single charge

Speakers: Sam Duckett and Lu Sirui

[Photo: Baidu.com]

The 40ft Catalyst E2 Max bus, designed by a Californian company called Proterra, went 1,102.2 miles on a testing ground in New Carlisle, Indiana.

Cities around the world are looking to use more electric vehicles for public transport, to combat air pollution.

Some experts believe the bus's long journey could be a breakthrough moment for electric vehicles.

The previous record of 1,013.76 miles was set by a light-duty passenger electric vehicle 46 times lighter than the bus.

Proterra said its "major feat" paved the way for more heavy-duty electric vehicles (EV) such as coaches and trucks.

The battery used for the journey had 660kWh of energy storage capacity.

Buses can hold much larger batteries than cars, and the one in the Catalyst E2 Max has nearly nine times the capacity of that in a Tesla Model S.

Proterra has sold more than 400 of its buses to councils, universities and commercial transport agencies in 20 states across the US. 

The audio clip is from Studio+, produced by CRI.