charge. It’s actually so quiet that it plays a little tune when it goes below 10 mph, so the kids can hear it coming.” Forbord said as of last spring he didn’t know much about electric school buses. But as electric made more headlines, the company began researching them. He added that it jumped on a chance to buy one over the summer and has been using it since the last week of September. “We’re very happy with it’s performance. It drives just like a regular bus because it’s programmed with the torque curve of a diesel bus,” he added. On the propane and natural gas side, one company that specializes in developing systems for school buses is ROUSH CleanTech in Livonia, Michigan. ROUSH CleanTech takes a Ford engine and engineers it to run on propane or natural gas. Engines are then shipped to Fort Valley, Georgia, where Blue Bird sequences them into their production line. “We really like propane for a school bus application. We’ve got a ton of propane, and a ton of natural gas in this country,” said Todd Mouw, vice president of sales and marketing for ROUSH. “Electric technology is emerging, but why not use (all fuel options available) to achieve the goal, which is lower costs, lower emissions and use domestic sources of energy, instead of trying to pick one winner?” Mouw said the government is pushing electric because of zero
emissions from the tailpipe. But he reminded that generating electricity in the first place has a footprint, too. “A lot of electric in this country is still coming from coal, and there are emissions from that. Te new electric bus is great, but you’re going to have to replace the batteries in eight or nine years, and where does that battery pack go? Back to the environment,” he answered his own question. “Electric is a great technology but it’s not a panacea. Tat’s the unfortunate part. People hear zero emissions, and they may not look at what is also available, like propane or natural gas. So, if they can’t afford electric buses, they may just decide to stick with diesel, which isn’t the right thing. I don’t need government grants to put someone in a pro- pane bus, because the total cost of ownership works out. Electric, at $350,000 to $400,000 a bus, doesn’t make for a great return on investment.”
He also pointed out that propane with its liquid injection system operates better than diesel in cold environments. “Te buses start, there are no gelling issues, you don’t have to idle them forever to get them warm. Tere is no range anxiety either,” he added. Lon Waterman, transportation director for the North Kansas City School District in Missouri, had his entire fleet of 160 diesel buses replaced with CNG, making it the largest CNG fleet in the
44 School Transportation News • JANUARY 2018
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