The Mule M150 accelerates as you might expect for a thirty-passenger bus with 150 hp under the hood. The Mule's power delivery is like a tree's taproot boring down through a crack in the sidewalk -- slow but relentless. With the electric motor hooked to a torque converter and the six-speed transmission, the Mule has some serious torque multiplication going on, but the horsepower situation certainly leaves something to be desired. Top speed is 70 mph, if you've got a while. But for city buses and urban delivery trucks, the Mule's 0-to-35-mph performance is what's relevant, and in stop-and-go traffic on Los Angeles boulevards it holds its own. The accelerator is programmed for smooth launches, so just floor it and go.
And then keep going for 150 miles (unloaded) or 90 miles (fully loaded), because this thing has the battery capacity of a showroom full of Nissan Leafs. In passenger cars, batteries present two big physical challenges: where are you going to put the pack, and how much does it weigh? In a truck or a bus, the answers to those questions are, "Anywhere you want," and "Who cares?" The batteries hanging from the Mule's ample frame rails provide 220 kilowatt-hours of juice, or nearly fourteen Chevy Volts' worth. That should be good for a full shift in an urban bus, and the batteries can be fully recharged in five hours.
