New Flyer of America Inc., the US subsidiary of NFI Group Inc. (NFI), the largest transit bus and motor coach manufacturer in North America, announced that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has awarded New Flyer a new contract for five sixty-foot (10 equivalent units) New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE heavy-duty, battery-electric zero-emission buses.

The award furthers MBTA efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions while establishing safe and reliable transportation for the greater Boston area. The Xcelsior CHARGE buses will be used to demonstrate battery-electric vehicle technology on Silver Line routes.

The project, which includes charging infrastructure, is supported by a grant through the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Low and No Emission Vehicle Deployment Program (LoNo) and is a result of a partnership between New Flyer, MBTA, and the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE).

New Flyer's sixty-foot battery-electric transit bus is the first and only sixty-foot battery electric bus to complete the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Model Bus Testing Program, qualifying it for FTA funding.

The Xcelsior CHARGE buses offer a total capacity of 120-passengers.

MBTA is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. Since 2002, New Flyer has delivered more than 750 buses to MBTA, including diesel-electric hybrids and low-emission compressed natural gas (CNG) buses. The battery-electric vehicle award follows MBTA’s recent execution of 194 options for New Flyer heavy-duty, forty-foot Xcelsior diesel-electric transit buses.