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CHICAGO — The Blue Bird Propane-Powered Micro Bird by Girardin G5 Type A school bus made its debut at the BusCon trade show, which will be held here at the Navy Pier Conference and Expo Center through Thursday. 

The Micro Bird G5 incorporates a liquid propane system by Roush Performance Products, runs on a Ford 6.8L engine and was built on a Ford E-450 chassis. Its fuel capacity is 43 usable gallons.

"This product delivers on a need that the shuttle bus, school bus and delivery markets have been asking for. Through the use of propane, fleets will significantly reduce their operating costs as well as the carbon footprint for those that adopt this liquid propane technology without compromising any of the key vehicle attributes, such as horsepower, torque, weight or the space available for passengers or cargo,” said Todd Mouw, vice president of sales and marketing for Roush.

Company officials also said that Roush liquid propane-powered vehicles, such as the Micro Bird G5, have no additional weight added. This means that stopping distance and brake wear will be comparable to a gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicle.

SBFfirst announced Blue Bird’s development of the propane-powered Micro Bird unit in June and later spoke with Micro Bird Inc. President Steve Girardin about the new offering.