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.

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.

Navistar Points to CARB Research to Back Up Claims Against SCR

Navistar, the parent company of IC Bus, has taken its fight against selective catalyst reduction and for advanced exhaust gas recirculation as the right choice for meeting upcoming EPA 2010 emissions requirements in lowering nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions at the tailpipe to no more than 0.2 grams. Currently, Navistar is suing the EPA in federal appeals court as it contends the feds by allowing SCR in its regulations will being increasing public health risks due to urea, the additive used in SCR to reduce NOx in the engine that has been used for the past two decades in Europe.

The aggressive marketing performed by Navistar this year has drawn criticism from many in automotive and fleet circles, such as Oliver Dixon's "Spiral of Dispair" article earlier this week on The World Trucks Blog at UK's www.roadtransport.com. But then, Navistar offered a rebuttal by claiming that a June letter penned by Bart Croes, chief of California Air Resources Board research, to the Health Effects Institute, a Boston nonprofit organization planning tests on 2010 engines, that said that the use of SCR represents a "large departure from conventional emission controls by introducing a liquid additive containing an organic form of nitrogen." According to MYETTNEWS.com, The letter goes on:

“Some toxic air contaminants that have been identified with SCR technology include hydrogen cyanide, cyanic acid, nitromethane, hydrazine, acrylonitrile, acrylamide, acetonitrile, and acetamide,” Croes wrote in his letter. “It is hoped that any exotic substances emitted from SCR technology will be at levels insignificant to exposure health effects.”

Although we are encouraged by findings to date, which suggest that the technology can deliver significant reductions of many species of toxicological relevance, this work has also documented the increase in some emissions such as some metals, nitrous oxide and nanoparticles.”

In the August issue of School Transportation News, contributor Bob Pudlewski writes that fleets must individually decide which technology best suits their needs, but either one has an increased price tag.

The debate rages on.

District Drops CNG, Says Diesel Will Save

Three years ago the Tucson Unified School District invested heavily in CNG-powered school buses, now the school district is change its tack with an $3 million diesel school bus order, the Arizona Daily Star reports:

... the CNG buses have drawn complaints from mechanics, who don't like the engines as much as they do diesel, and from drivers, who don't like the long trips to the airport fueling station ... but the biggest reason behind the switch is that diesel is cleaning up its act. With the federal government next year instituting stringent clean-air requirements, the new generation of diesel buses spits out only a fraction of the tiny pieces of dust, soot and fumes that its older kin does. Such emissions are now on par with clean-burning CNG-fueled buses.

Tom Mulligan, the district's transportation director, says given the improvements in diesel, the decision to switch makes financial sense. But Richard Kolodiej of NGVAmerica says that might not hold if diesel prices go back up, especially since districts can lock into natural gas prices for seven years. On the environmental side Patricia Monahan of the Union of Concerned Scientists says natural gas is still worth considering as a means to end petroleum independence and overall pollution reduction. But, she says:

"... I think school districts have a lot of hard decisions to make ...I wouldn't chastise the district for cutting costs, but there is an argument to still use natural gas."

So what's going on at your operation? Are you looking at CNG or propane? Is "green" diesel where it's at?

Also on the alt-fuel radar this week, IC Bus will get $10 Million from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop and test the next generation plug-in hybrid school bus.

The Mystery of 2010: SCR vs. EGR

This week, both Thomas and IC Bus offer takes on the 2010 emissions regulations coming. In a story that appears elsewhere IC's marketing director argues its EGR solution is better because it's "less hassle"

Looking at both options, we can conclude that even if SCR improves fuel economy and if urea costs come down at some point, then the additional costs of training service techs, storing and purchasing replacement parts for the urea system, and adding a urea infrastructure to your business will add unfamiliarity and costs that are not good for your bottom line.

Thomas Built Buses counters with a Web site about its SCR solution. The company breaks the choice down to a top ten list:

1. Best fuel efficiency
2. Proven technology in Europe
3. EPA recommended and approved
4. Higher engine power density
5. No increased heat rejection, allowing for more efficient combustion
6. Lower cost of total ownership
7. Reliable
8. Durable
9. Easy to service
10.Environmentally friendly

Take a look at both sites for yourself. Let us know what you think. What questions do you still have about SCR and EGR? Let us know and we'll see if we can get them answered for you. Are you ready to make a switch? Have you already committed?

About That Hydrogen Powered Bus...

This week we look at a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy on the hydrogen-powered school bus. It seems operators looking for the next green thing are going to have to wait a bit. The technology is too expensive and not durable enough, the report notes:

"Given these issues [public health and fuel economy], school bus operators are increasingly receptive to new technologies, but their willingness to demonstrate and deploy advanced technologies and alternative fuels must be balanced with strict financial and operational considerations."

Greater availability may lead to greater viability for the alt-fuel, however. Read the whole report to Congress or a separate report that looks at progress and plans for the future [both PDFs].

In the meantime, one product, a kids' DVD on how IC Buses are made is nearly ready to ship. How'd They Build That School Bus? goes on sale later this month. A preview from our YouTube site below.