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Except that a school bus tends to operate a diesel in its worst conditions. Lots of idling. Lots of low RPM operation. Lots of stop and start wasting a lot o

by bsder 5y ago

Except that a school bus tends to operate a diesel in its worst conditions. Lots of idling. Lots of low RPM operation. Lots of stop and start wasting a lot of energy into the brakes. A school bus is practically engineered to be an EV propaganda piece.

Animats 5y ago
Right. Plus it travels a known number of miles per day, and recharges at the same place each day. (Although, field trips?)
jtlienwis 5y ago
How much will they weigh compared to a Diesel bus? Road damage is to the fourth power of axle weight. Any cost savings may be just shifted to the road department for fixing pot holes. I think the VW EV is almost twice the weight of a same size ICE car. 16x the road damage. Plus, how much damage when this EV bus slides on the ice and hits something? Twice the damage if twice the weight.
- kube-system 5y ago
  School bus weight is generally seen as a good thing, because we care more about keeping kids safe than road damage or damage to other vehicles.
- gbear605 5y ago
  The battery doesn’t necessarily need to be that large, since the range can be small (<25 miles for most school districts assuming that they can charge during the day). Probably a school bus could get away with an battery the same size as one in a Tesla, so the weight of the rest of the bus probably dominates. Probably the weight of the students alone is a lot more when fully loaded.
- bsder 5y ago
  It seems that these are the same weight. That's probably not a coincidence. This lists the GVWR for the diesels at up to 36,200 lbs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Bird_All_American https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Bird_All_American This lists the GVWR for electrics at the same: https://assets.ctfassets.net/ucu418cgcnau/362sQcGinJzFxVqFh0DBCr/cb2ee507e5c8f646ee133bfdabbccbfb/02_Blue_Bird_Electric_Bus_Presentation_Truck_and_Bus_NOTES_V2.pdf https://assets.ctfassets.net/ucu418cgcnau/362sQcGinJzFxVqFh0... Electrics also tend to benefit from better traction in crummy conditions because the batteries create a fixed, lower center of gravity. Do note that the drive system for these EV buses is apparently built by Cummins. For Cummins to put the effort in, they see a reason.

by bsder 5y ago

Animats 5y ago

Right. Plus it travels a known number of miles per day, and recharges at the same place each day. (Although, field trips?)

jtlienwis 5y ago

How much will they weigh compared to a Diesel bus? Road damage is to the fourth power of axle weight. Any cost savings may be just shifted to the road department for fixing pot holes. I think the VW EV is almost twice the weight of a same size ICE car. 16x the road damage. Plus, how much damage when this EV bus slides on the ice and hits something? Twice the damage if twice the weight.

kube-system 5y ago
School bus weight is generally seen as a good thing, because we care more about keeping kids safe than road damage or damage to other vehicles.
gbear605 5y ago
The battery doesn’t necessarily need to be that large, since the range can be small (<25 miles for most school districts assuming that they can charge during the day). Probably a school bus could get away with an battery the same size as one in a Tesla, so the weight of the rest of the bus probably dominates. Probably the weight of the students alone is a lot more when fully loaded.
bsder 5y ago
It seems that these are the same weight. That's probably not a coincidence. This lists the GVWR for the diesels at up to 36,200 lbs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Bird_All_American https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Bird_All_American This lists the GVWR for electrics at the same: https://assets.ctfassets.net/ucu418cgcnau/362sQcGinJzFxVqFh0DBCr/cb2ee507e5c8f646ee133bfdabbccbfb/02_Blue_Bird_Electric_Bus_Presentation_Truck_and_Bus_NOTES_V2.pdf https://assets.ctfassets.net/ucu418cgcnau/362sQcGinJzFxVqFh0... Electrics also tend to benefit from better traction in crummy conditions because the batteries create a fixed, lower center of gravity. Do note that the drive system for these EV buses is apparently built by Cummins. For Cummins to put the effort in, they see a reason.