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Better start with trucks or something to normalize it first. One battery catching on fire in an EV schoolbus would set back the entire initiative decades due to

Better start with trucks or something to normalize it first. One battery catching on fire in an EV schoolbus would set back the entire initiative decades due to public image

toomuchtodo 2y ago
There are already 8,820 electric school busses in service [1], and they would be plugged in when used for grid support. If they burn from this use case, it's going to be off hours without kids on them. Currently, about one combustion school bus fire occurs every day in the US [2] [3], so school bus fires are hardly unusual and one might expect electric propulsion versions to combust less often. There is a $5B EPA fund to electrify school busses [4], so whether this works or not is not material for the primary use case. Doesn't hurt to try, collect data, and decision to continue at a later point. [1] https://electricschoolbusinitiative.org/electric-school-bus-data-dashboard https://electricschoolbusinitiative.org/electric-school-bus-... [2] https://www.firetrace.com/fire-protection-blog/ntbs-safety-recommendation https://www.firetrace.com/fire-protection-blog/ntbs-safety-r... [3] https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/12392 https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/12392 [4] https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/05/epa-opens-applications-for-its-5-billion-clean-school-bus-program/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/05/epa-opens-applications-...
- throwaway290 2y ago
  > If they burn from this use case No I don't mean from this use case, I mean during operation in a bus full of kids. > about one combustion school bus fire occurs every day in the US [2] [3], so school bus fires are hardly unusual and one might expect electric propulsion versions to combust less often EV is obviously safer but one fire in a bus full of kids and right wing will block it for years to come. Go explain them how EVs actually combust less :)

Better start with trucks or something to normalize it first. One battery catching on fire in an EV schoolbus would set back the entire initiative decades due to public image

toomuchtodo 2y ago

There are already 8,820 electric school busses in service [1], and they would be plugged in when used for grid support. If they burn from this use case, it's going to be off hours without kids on them. Currently, about one combustion school bus fire occurs every day in the US [2] [3], so school bus fires are hardly unusual and one might expect electric propulsion versions to combust less often. There is a $5B EPA fund to electrify school busses [4], so whether this works or not is not material for the primary use case. Doesn't hurt to try, collect data, and decision to continue at a later point. [1] https://electricschoolbusinitiative.org/electric-school-bus-data-dashboard https://electricschoolbusinitiative.org/electric-school-bus-... [2] https://www.firetrace.com/fire-protection-blog/ntbs-safety-recommendation https://www.firetrace.com/fire-protection-blog/ntbs-safety-r... [3] https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/12392 https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/12392 [4] https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/05/epa-opens-applications-for-its-5-billion-clean-school-bus-program/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/05/epa-opens-applications-...

throwaway290 2y ago
> If they burn from this use case No I don't mean from this use case, I mean during operation in a bus full of kids. > about one combustion school bus fire occurs every day in the US [2] [3], so school bus fires are hardly unusual and one might expect electric propulsion versions to combust less often EV is obviously safer but one fire in a bus full of kids and right wing will block it for years to come. Go explain them how EVs actually combust less :)