NAZARETH, Pa. — Students in the Nazareth Area School District will become the first in Pennsylvania to ride the new hybrid school bus built by IC Corporation and Enova Systems.

School bus contractor Jennings Transportation received one of the buses as part of the nationwide Plug-In Hybrid Electric School Bus Project. The state’s Environmental Protection Agency provided a grant of $112,000 to assist with the cost of the bus.

A total of 19 hybrid buses have been awarded to states around the country by Advanced Energy, a non-profit corporation that initiated a buyer's consortium of school districts, state energy agencies and student transportation providers.

Last month, the School District of Manatee County (Fla.) was the first district in the country to receive hybrid school buses through the Advanced Energy program.

The hybrid school bus project features Enova's Charge Depleting System (or "Plug In"), which was extensively tested and evaluated at IC Corporation's research and technology facility in Fort Wayne, Ind.

The initial powertrain for the hybrid school bus will couple an International VT365 V8 diesel engine with the 25/80-kilowatt hybrid-electric powertrain, incorporating a transmission, batteries and an electric motor.

Based on a parallel architecture, the system utilizes both diesel and electric power. Depending on the route, fuel economy is expected to improve by 70 to 100 percent. The hybrid system can also reduce emissions by up to 90 percent.

The hybrid school buses are manufactured at IC Corporation's plant in Conway, Ark. For more information about the program, visit www.hybridschoolbus.org.