Refurbishments can also mean adding new hybrid-electric power, as is the case for New York City school bus contractor Careful Bus.


“It’s a big advantage for people who need the


Engines usually don’t last as long as the bus itself, so you put a new engine in and it can run another 10 years, and the bus body can last forever. You can do that with a newer diesel engine or what we’re seeing increasingly—take out the old diesel engine, put in a new propane engine and propane tanks.” — Charles Silio, Agility Fuel Solutions


36 School Transportation News • AUGUST 2018


reliability of standard vehicles they have come to utilize and rely on,” said Marty Hoffman, co- owner and vice president of Careful Bus. “We’re just turning those into more fuel-efficient, less carbon-emitting vehicles, and doing so in a very cost-effective and time-effective way. A standard outfit for us takes less than a day, just adding our solution under the chassis.” He noted that the concept of retrofitting school buses is not a new one. “It’s a tried and true industry standard when it comes to things like wheelchair accessibility and A/C systems,” Hoffman added. Retrofitting buses with cleaner fuel systems is a natural evolution. ADOMANI, a leader in electric bus drivetrains,


first started converting diesel pickup trucks to hybrid electric or electric, President and CEO Jim Reynolds explained, then it began repowering heavier vehicles. “Our first heavy-duty vehicle conversion took place in Florida. It was of an older Blue Bird Type-D school bus that we repowered as zero- emission electric,” he explained. “All the internal combustion-related drivetrain components, such as the diesel engine, fuel tank and exhaust system, were removed and replaced by an electric motor


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52