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IC Bus Wins North Carolina Contract

Several weeks ago, we wrote in this space about the possibility of Blue Bird grabbing the North Carolina yellow school bus contract and shutting out local company Thomas Built Buses. Strike that, as IC Bus ended up the low bidder and winning the lucrative contract for nearly 900 new Type C buses.

Local North Carolina residents are sure to be unhappy, as there were press reports last month detailing the public outrcry before the contract was even finalized. Several media outlets quoted residents who were perplexed that Thomas of High Point would not be keeping the business in state especially in light of the economy and skyrocketing unemployment.

At that time, Blue Bird looked like it would win as it was the low bidder, a state requirement for awarding such bids. But a spokesman at the North Carolina Office of Public Instruction said Blue Bird retracted its proposal apparently after discovering some internal errors in calculations that procluded the company from actually meeting the price it quoted the state. That left IC Bus as the new low bidder, and with that the deal for the close to 900 CE Series school buses was inked.

However, Blue Bird did win a multi-award contract for activity buses along with IC Bus, though the exact number of buses is unknown because those purchases are up to local districts. But, last month, John O’Leary, president at Thomas, >said last month that losing the North Carolina award would not translate into job losses at home, despite the fact the company has laid off about 400 workers in the past year due to the economy.

The IC win, meanwhile, also means the advanced EGR MaxxForce diesel engine makes it onto the state specification list for meeting upcoming 2010 EPA emissions requirements. Both Blue Bird and Thomas are meeting the standard with urea-based SCR Cummins engines.

In a statement, John McKinney, president of IC Bus, gave the credit to a local dealer for the contract win.

“The team from White’s International has a keen understanding of the needs of this customer. They helped demonstrate how IC Bus could be a partner to them during and after the sale.” McKinney commented.

North Carolina: Out with Thomas and in with Blue Bird?

By Ryan Gray

Though a final decision is pending, North Carolina appears to be set to award its 2010 bus bid to Blue Bird, marking an about face from a historic alliance with Thomas Built Buses. Not only is Thomas an in-state company but the way North Carolina's school bus specs were written called for items that Thomas was in the best position to provide, according to industry sources and Internet message boards.

North Carolina amended its bus specs in early September to make them more general to all three large bus manufacturers, with IC Bus rounding out that list. Thomas Built's president, John O'Leary, told local reporters this week that the development won't hurt the company's bottom line as 95 percent of bus sales occur out of state, anyway. As he told the local FOX News affiliate:

"We could've gone, ultimately, as low as Bluebird went. It would've been very irresponsible from our standpoint ... It's just getting down in the mud and wrestling around in that zero-profit game is not where we want to be."

Low bids are commonplace in the school bus industry, as schools nationwide must remain on constant watch to make sure they stay within if not under budget, especially in the current environment of no less than 48 states running deficits. But this represents an interesting turn of events, especially in light of published reports of struggles at Blue Bird's parent company Cerberus, which saw about half of its investors walk over the summer amid concerns over the company's position in the current marketplace and the decision to embrace a new hedge fund. Those that balked and walked reportedly took with them about $4 billion.

Blue Bird reps have said the company remains strong, but obviously the company seriously underbid its buses in comparison to what Thomas was able to offer for its C2 Saf-T-Liners. And the result is a backlash in North Carolina, where residents view the decision to contract with a Georgia-based company as a heretical move when state unemployment rates are hovering around 10.7 percent, one of the worst in the country. The local North Carolina FOX affiliate also reported that some Thomas workers were wondering aloud why the state doesn't require school systems to buy from in-state companies, since profits at North Carolina companies help keep workers employed. O'Leary said he understands that thinking, but points out he wouldn't want Georgia or Illinois to do the same thing. Plus, something that is not mentioned, Thomas uses many third-party suppliers for such things as mirrors that are manufactured out of state. So why should the actual bus be any different?

Proof in point that today's economy is making an already ultra-competitive school bus marketplace much more stiff.

Fatal Accident in Bus Barn Caused by Non-School Vehicle

By Lisa J. Hudson

Just as important but sometimes overlooked, the safety of school transportation employees is the subject of today's blog. The Houston Chronicle reports that yesterday's fatal accident at Lamar Consolidated Independent School District's bus barn occurred when a Federal Express delivery truck struck a school transportation employee. According to an account provided by the Rosenberg Police Department, the driver of the FedEx truck tried to leave the bus barn after making a delivery there and did not see the victim, Robert Judd Whitman, 61, of Fulshear. Police said Whitman was in the FedEx driver's “blind spot” as the driver traveled forward.

The incident raises safety concerns about the presence of non-school vehicles in school bus facilities. We want to hear from you: are non-school vehicles allowed to move about in your facilities? Are any special safety precautions taken when these vehicles arrive and depart?

Freightliner to Embark on Road Toward All-Electric Vehicles

While school buses are seemingly not part of the discussion — yet, anyay — Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation, a subsidiary of Daimler and the provider of chassis for Thomas Built Buses, has inked a letter of intent with Enova Systems to meet the demand for all-electric commercial vehicles.

Using Enova’s 120kw and 90kw all-electric drive system (as opposed to the 25/80kw drive utilizes by IC Bus in its CE plug-in and regular hybrid school buses), Freightliner appears to be going after the UPS and FedEx parcel truck market, at least initially, as a press release on Enova’s Web site mentioned vehicles “including” the MT-45 walk-in chassis will be targeted. Those chassis have gross vehicle weight rating between 14,140 and 19,000 pounds and maximum payloads of 10,000 pounds

Thomas Built buses are generally built on the FB-45 commercial bus chassis for the Saf-T-Liner C2 and the MB-55 “Heavy Duty” Bus Chassis for the Saf-T-Liner EF and HDE Type D models. But the important piece of this news is simply that Freightliner is jumping both feet into the all-electric market. And it’s interesting that the press release is worded in a way that indicates other chassis might receive, either now or in the future, and electric drive. Does that include Thomas school buses?

Cost, of course, is a consideration as international corporations like UPS and FedEx can shoulder them, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth, for electric trucks much easier than schools can. Nevermind that all-electric buses, some say, are currently a bit cheaper than their hybrid cousins. But there are also the issues of electric offering the driving range needed by many school buses, especially those operating in rural areas and the reliability of batteries currently on the market. But the deal signals that federal investment in electric vehicles for R&D might be showing dividends. And in Thomas' case, it should be noted that VP of Engineering Herbert Mehnert used to run the hybrid program at Freightliner Custom Chassis.

Time will tell.

Collins Bus at Frontlines of Alternative Fuel Technology

By Ryan Gray

With recent statements made by school bus manufacturers that they expect an additional 20- to 30-percent downturn in school bus production this year amid the struggling economy, things seem to be looking up for Collins Bus Corporation. Today's news that company will be bringing to market a propane-powered Type A school bus represents the second first-ever moment for the nation's largest manufacturer of small school buses.

Earlier this year, Collins announced a deal with Azure Dynamics to produce the first-ever, straight-from-the-assembly-line hybrid electric drive train for a Type A school bus. Built for the Ford E-450 cutaway chassis, the NEXBUS hybrid runs on gasoline power and is already in use in Napa Valley (Calif.) Unified School District and at Durham School Services contracts in Rosemead, Calif., in the Los Angeles area.

Following no the heels of the NEXBUS is the yet named liquid propane Type A that company officials said will go into production this fall, likely as of Nov. 1 when the company begins its 2009-2010 production year. Certainly Collins has schematics drawn up, at least, as rumors of a propane-powered small school bus have been making the rounds for a couple of months. Up until now, the only straight-from-manufacturer propane school bus came in the form of Blue Bird's Type C Vision. Blue Bird also manufactures a Type A school bus, the Micro Bird, but so far the company has yet to say it has plans to transition the propane technology to a smaller load vehicle. And, for years, there has been propane conversion kit technology. But recent advances by Blue Bird in solving engine power issues and a partnership with propane distributor and infrastructure specialist CleanFUELS USA, which Collins is also working with, has made the alternative fuel more attractive to fleet owners, not to mention a 50 cent per gallon federal tax rebate and a big investment by the feds and some states.

Speaking of which, Collins is already concentrating on interested school district and private fleet customers in Texas, which has one of the largest propane infrastructures in the nation. The Lone Star state is receiving upwards of $25 million from U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities grants for new propane vehicles and fueling stations, plus California and New York. And the company has a dealer network of 70 to fall back on.

Amid buzz that GM could go the route of offering a hybrid electric diesel chassis for school buses, but nothing concrete yet, Collins certainly appears to be taking the reigns of the Type A alternative market.

A Link Between High-Performance Race Cars and School Buses?

Perhaps it's all a bit premature, but an intriguing concept was reported last week on Wired.com.

Ilmor Engineering of the U.K. and Plymouth, Mich., owned by Roger Penske, may be known to some as a leading manufacturer of engines for Formula-1 and IndyCar racing as well as high-performance marine racing. But the 25-year-old company is also hoping to revolutionize the combustion engine market amid the global green wave of hybrids. electrics and alternative fuels. It recently introduced a prototype gasoline five-stroke engine, a new take on its 125-year-old, four-stroke cousin.

It's an interesting development in a time when increased fuel economy and reduced emissions are on everyone's list of talking points. But the Ilmor five-stroke actually promises comparable output and fuel efficiency as a diesel engine minus 20 percent of a diesel engine's weight and the nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. Ilmor also says the five-stroke is ready for tests and could be used in conjunction with a hybrid drive.

Says Wired:

...the technology is '100% conventional' [according to Ilmor] and doesn’t require any new manufacturing techniques.

Ilmor says that the prototype five-stroke engine, based on a design by Gerhard Schmitz, has an overall expansion ratio “approaching that of a diesel engine – in the region of 14.5:1.” Along with its light weight and relatively high output, the extra work done in the low pressure (LP) cylinder provides for better fuel economy.

“Running of the concept engine has produced impressive fuel consumption readings over a very wide operating range,” the company said in a statement. “This is because at the onset of knock a greater percentage of work can be extracted in the LP cylinder, giving a degree of self compensation.”