diesel buses, which comprise the entire fleet of 50 buses, minus the EV and one gasoline-powered Type A. Redmond said the pilot test will last several years
to determine how much the district will need to pay in maintenance costs and how the vehicle stands up to multiple harsh North Dakota winters. “In our area they use so much liquid on the roadways in the winter months to thaw snow and ice,” he explained. “How does that electrical system handle that kind of corrosive ma- terial over time? Is it every five years you have to replace electrical harnesses? Every 10 years?” Eventually, West Fargo will work with the utility com-
pany on V2G feasibility. First, Redmond advised, the district needs to figure out exactly how long it takes to fully charge the Cummins PowerDrive. After a month of operation, he said it takes on average about eight to nine hours to AC charge the bus when battery capacity is at 20 percent. The bus travels about 60 to 70 miles per day in town, with a 100-mile, real-world range, he added. Currently, the district is only gauging energy con-
sumption. Already, the EV is costing only about eight to nine cents a mile to operate, which is five times less than
its diesel counterparts. “We’ve got a flat five-and-a-half cent rate per kilowatt for the electric bus. That is consis- tent and doesn’t change, so we know what our energy costs are going to be,” Redmond noted. The district also purchased two identical 72-passen-
ger capacity Blue Bird Vision diesel buses with similar options. “We are running them side-by-side to calculate costs over time, to determine exact savings of electric and make vehicle downtime comparisons,” he said. Blue Bird and Cummins released their first production
versions of the All American and Vision electric buses at the beginning of 2019. By August, more than 100 EVs had been ordered. Those numbers will only increase as energy storage capacity becomes more compact, longer lasting, and with more energy density to store power, said Kuba Szczypiorski, Blue Bird’s director of alternative fuels. “Electric truly is the future when it comes to being
good stewards of this planet,” he added. “Blue Bird has seen a huge push by districts to go green, and we currently sell more than half of our buses with fuels alternative to traditional diesel. As electric technology becomes more widely adopted, I believe we will see bat-
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