Electric school buses are becoming more prominent in pupil transportation as the "Big 3" manufacturers release their own models and tour them, and pilots see positive results.
PHOTOS: Electric School Buses Spark Interest
IC Bus also kicked off a national tour with its ChargE concept electric school bus in March. The ChargE is shown here at Esteban Torres High School in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Unified School District students learned about electric school bus technology firsthand at the high school's Engineering and Technology Academy, with a demonstration of the ChargE. Students also interacted with IC Bus engineers.
Thomas Built Buses’ Saf-T-Liner C2 electric school bus, named “Jouley” after the unit of energy called the joule, runs on an Efficient Drivetrains Inc. PowerDrive 7000EV powertrain. Jouley is expected to go into early production in 2019.
Concord (Mass.) Public Schools’ eLion has been embraced by the drivers, students, and the community, which is very concerned with environmental issues. It is shown here at the district's new charging station. Photo courtesy of Brian Foulds
Blue Bird featured its All American RE Electric Type D school bus at the Ontario Transportation Expo in April. The manufacturer has held many ride-and-drive events across the U.S. and Canada since January.
Rescue (Calif.) Union School District obtained an eLion through the state's Rural School Bus Pilot Project grant, funding that just started being offered last year. It has been in service and running about 60 miles a day. The district uses a charging station that can be programmed to only charge when electricity is cheapest.
Some conversion pilots have also been successful. Careful Bus, which provides special-needs transportation for the New York City Department of Education, has run a pilot with the XLH Hybrid Electric Drive System, a connected electrification solution from XL. It went from having one of its buses equipped with the system to installing it on five of them. For more on electric school bus pilot results, read SBF's feature on the topic in the June issue.