vious systems and require fewer personnel to perform maintenance—but they are different. “Everyone who touches an electric school bus will need to receive some sort of training or component of continuing education,” commented Mike Stotler, the the customer support manager for Thomas Built Buses. “With that being said, we also believe there would be a higher bus to technician ratio as there are fewer items to maintain and troubleshooting can be done simply via a software package.” Kyle Maki, the director electric vehicle field services for
Navistar, the manufacturer of IC Bus models, said, “We as an industry owe it to our current and future technicians to provide the appropriate training for our technicians to successfully service vehicles. Technicians of today will not be the same as technicians of the future,” he continued. “Technicians of the future may not have large toolboxes but instead small tool carts to handle repairs like suspen- sion work. Most work will be managed from a technician’s laptop to investigate, diagnose and repair vehicles.”
Brian Alexander, the director of public relations for
Lion Electric Company, said the electric buses the Que- bec-based manufacturer produces use many common driveline components with diesel buses, and mechanics will be as familiar with things like differentials and bear- ings as before. The friction brake systems also remain the same. Maintenance on those items will be similar to diesel or any other bus, he said, but differences in mov- ing parts will result in overall maintenance savings. “The main difference in electric bus maintenance is
that there is much less to maintain,” he added. “An electric motor has about 20 moving parts, while a diesel engine has about 2,000, plus things like [diesel exhaust] filters, transmissions, etc. We see a 60-percent savings in main- tenance costs and 80-percent reduction in energy costs.” Alexander mentioned this as another significant ben-
efit: maintenance costs should drop along with overall energy costs. “Diesel prices continue to rise but electric- ity does not,” he added. Plus, he said one can choose to charge when energy is cheapest off-peak.
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