Proterra Inc., the electric-bus and battery maker that joined the Nasdaq Global Select Market, is planning a domestic battery-cell manufacturing facility within the next few years.

Proterra Inc., which makes electric buses and batteries, agreed to go public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company ArcLight Clean Transition Corp.

Plodding down DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn is a bus moving under the power of an eerily quiet motor. It looks newer than most buses on the route, with a vivid digital display facing the driver and doors that part with a futuristic pneumatic swoosh. Commuters trundling aboard at rush hour don’t seem to realize this is one of the few electric buses—300 last year, to be exact—in America.

Tesla Inc.’s battery systems will be installed at more than 100 electric-vehicle U.S. charging stations this year.

A series of high-profile accidents involving self-driving cars is slowing the mad rush into the autonomous-vehicle business, according to a report issued May 2.