teafortwo
Champion Author
Washington
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Message Posted: Feb 10, 2012 1:46:58 PM
BIG OIL & GAS love us
Couple this with a roof covered with solar collectors and you are set.
The savings from not buying diesel for the buses and not buying fuel to heat the school will more than offset the cost of the buses. Once the solar system is paid off? Money left over to improve the school and upgrade equipment.
Thanks to free energy refills from Mother Nature. What a concept ;0}
BIG OIL & GAS love us
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SkyWarnTX
All-Star Author
Texas
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Message Posted: Feb 10, 2012 10:37:06 AM
No Gas... No Problem...Energy Independence... that even BIG OIL REPUBLICANS can't argue against....
..
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jwalkerh
Champion Author
Louisiana
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Message Posted: Feb 10, 2012 8:54:13 AM
Good for the school system but this raises safety concerns for the children, especially with impaired school bus drivers.
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remay
Champion Author
Houston
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Message Posted: Feb 10, 2012 8:47:05 AM
Hope it makes noise - just what we DON'T need, is a QUIET vehicle around a lot of children!
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ExplorerWA
Champion Author
Washington
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 11:04:28 PM
No price is given for the bus and no project maintenance figures were also not provided. Hope the batteries in these bus's do not burst into flames.
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jjjleblanc
Champion Author
Rochester
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 8:59:01 PM
Someone's going to be late for scheel.
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johnnyg1200
Champion Author
St. Louis
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 6:22:20 PM
I hope no one needs to go on a field trip or to a sports event. I didn’t see a cost or the new bus or a projected maintenance cost. If it is like the other EV’s or hybrids the cost will be so outrageous the district will never recover the cost in fuel savings unless fuel gets high enough. OH wait Obozo said that’s how we would drive the green energy push.
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ToolinIt
Champion Author
Colorado
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 3:40:20 PM
Sounds prohibitively expensive.
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SRcyclist
Rookie Author
San Diego
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 3:11:59 PM
Interesting idea, but excess capacity would still be needed to handle the combination of variable traffic and hilly/mountainous terrain in Southern California.
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schatzila
Champion Author
Los Angeles
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 1:03:04 PM
Los Angeles needs some of these!
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ObieDog
All-Star Author
Maryland
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 1:03:01 PM
Traffic. Detours. Outside temperature. Still room for some anxiety.
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orphancarguyPE
Champion Author
PEI
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 11:28:28 AM
Cool! School bus routes are excellent examples of a planned and certain daily route mileage, and some will be an excellent fit for "all electric". People seem to forget that electric traction is hugely more efficient than any sort of fuel engine moving a vehicle through any sort of transmission, driveshaft, differential. For cars, $5 of gasoline will take you the same distance as about $3.50 of diesel (even though it costs more) and get this--about 80 or 90 cents worth of electricity will do the same job. Electric traction is just that much more efficient. Its always been the battery which has been the stumbling block.
I just was in a city in Ontario (Ottawa) has a large number of hybrid diesel-electric buses, which especially on low speed frequent stop/start central routes save a lot in fuel. It happens not to be working out for them specifically because they don't have enough in the way of completely low speed routes what with the dedicated high-speed Transitway system--once you start driving fast with the hybrid, you lose the economy advantage. Other places with LOTS of long start/stop city routes like NYC, well that is perfect hybrid territory
So, with buses as with cars and delivery vehicles, the same rules apply. Its all math and physics.
-Electric, especially all electric, are great for short defined routes--and the charge lasts longer at lower speeds, while frequent stops and starts (regeneration) and sitting (no motor drain) aren't the negatives that they are for fueled vehicles.
-hybrids, gas-electric or diesel-electric, cost more, and they shine in city/suburban driving generally at lower speeds. They can go highway speeds, but the higher the percentage of highway speed driving, the more the economy advantage disappears.
-gasoline works fairly well in all situations' better on the highway though.
-diesel is even cheaper than gasoline, and especially if you do a lot of highway driving. Higher initial price and fuel cost is more than recovered voer the long term, especially with high number of miles/longer engine life.
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Palantas
Sophomore Author
Indianapolis
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 11:27:10 AM
That makes sense, I guess.
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Norm10
Champion Author
British Columbia
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 10:42:45 AM
With the teachers always on vacation it won't even matter if the electric bus doesn't make it to school.
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YaBassa
All-Star Author
Michigan
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 10:34:54 AM
Good idea. Hope it works.
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fuel2use
Champion Author
Seattle
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 10:33:51 AM
It sounds like a great idea.
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RonTheRunner77
Veteran Author
Michigan
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 10:30:45 AM
this is good, public transport is the best place to roll out the new tech
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gs7101
Champion Author
San Antonio
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 10:17:00 AM
They better make sure there are no safety concerns with these buses -- why start off with buses developoed to carry school children?
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LEGION57
Champion Author
South Carolina
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 10:04:30 AM
Just anxiety about the little buggers trashing it.
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chemist74
Champion Author
Cleveland
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 10:02:43 AM
Since school buses are paid for with taxpayer money, cost should be the first concern and they should only be considered if they more than recover the higher up front costs. One would want them to be able to fully recharge between the morningf and afternoon runs and make allowance for some buses being needed for field trips during the day and transport of sports teams competing after school.
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GreyWolf01
Veteran Author
Ontario
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 9:58:52 AM
Why would they be going to school if there was a power outage?
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carrollcreek
Champion Author
Minnesota
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 9:52:00 AM
It's a cool looking bus. The positive is that most of our energy costs are regulated, so the cost of electricity is more consistent then say the price of diesel.
On the side of "what about a power outage", then they may have a gas/diesel power generator to back up the system. I think they would still need to have diesel buses in the system to use in case of an emergency.
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Goatroper
Champion Author
Dallas
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 9:48:40 AM
What's the ROI? Is this economical or just green? Might as well slap some solar cells on top of that sucker while you're at it.
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mossimo36
All-Star Author
St. Louis
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 9:46:51 AM
ok
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portlandcat
Champion Author
Tennessee
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 9:45:01 AM
sounds good but I bet you'll only see these in "wealthy" school districts. The article doesn't address the cost of these buses...as to the point made in the comments about power outages, I bet they'll have to have regular buses as backups
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kx250
Champion Author
Michigan
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 9:44:14 AM
@doeslayer
They are at least 2 to 2 1/2 times more expensive, but when it comes to saving the world, what does economics have to do with anything?
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peakkeller
All-Star Author
Colorado Springs
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 9:35:13 AM
Cool!
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SachiCat
Rookie Author
Tacoma
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 9:30:16 AM
What happens when there is a power outage?
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doeslayersr
Champion Author
Illinois
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 9:29:43 AM
The interesting fact in the article is the information it does not provide or give any hints or clues about. The cost of the vehicle.
'Range Anxiety' would be replaced by 'Budget Anxiety' or 'Tax Bill Anxiety' in whatever school district decided to buy a fleet of these.
I wonder how many police, fire fighters and teachers will be threatened with job loss if the taxing district did not approve tax increases to pay for these once a fleet of these purchased.
[Edited by: doeslayersr at 2/9/2012 9:30:48 AM EST]
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lcleveland
Champion Author
San Antonio
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Message Posted: Feb 9, 2012 9:28:00 AM
ok
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