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.

Thomas Moving Towards an All-Electric?

Daimler AG, the parent company of Thomas Built Buses, has purchased a 10 percent stake in electric vehicle company Tesla Motors, according to a press release. The companies said they will cooperate on battery drive systems, electric drive systems and vehicle projects. Could this put Thomas closer to an all-electric school bus? Representatives from from Thomas weren't immediately available to answer. But for prognosticators and green bus enthusiasts there's some exciting potential.

Thomas is already working on a hybrid Saf-T-Liner C2. According to the release, Daimler and Tesla were also working together to integrate Tesla's lithium-ion battery packs and chargers into Daimler's electric smart car. The release goes on to note that Daimler just founded the Deutsche Accumotive GmbH, a joint venture with Evonik Industries AG, which makes the company "the first vehicle manufacturer worldwide that develops, produces and markets batteries for automotive applications.

Could a new all electric bus be far off?

Goodbye Prius, Hello Volt

Newsweek has a story that's worth reading on why first-generation, Prius-style hybrids may be the first victims of a shift to plug-in hybrids. Why dump these relatively new cars? Because the market will need to make room for their much more efficient younger brothers and sisters. Of course, Prius maker Toyota disagrees:

"The fact that the Prius has been around for 10 years does not mean it is old news or obsolete. In fact, it keeps getting better and better," says John Hanson, a company spokesman ... Hanson says Toyota is doing research on lithium-ion batteries, and plans a plug-in hybrid prototype for next year. But he insists that for now its tried-and-true batteries are best, and that lithium ion isn't ready for prime time. "Battery science is not where it needs to be," he says.

Recently, we've seen a bit of news on the hybrid in the school bus industry. Next generation buses may be far from some district's economic reach now, but with more hybrids coming to market, the school bus industry will soon have its own similar questions to answer.

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?

Collins Announces Hybrid-Electric Type A

With an announced partnership between Collins Bus Corporation and Azure Dynamics, the first-ever Ford-certified Type-A hybrid-electric school bus is bound for roads. Designs for the vehicle promise a fuel economy of up to 40 percent. Read the whole story on STNOnline.

How a Turbo Charger Works

Very cool...



Thanks, John

California Utility Preps for Surge in Hybrid Electrics

More on our ongoing discussion of hybrid-electric infrastructure. Southern California Edison is spending $5 million to purchase hybrid-electric cars and research changes needed to make a seamless shift to powering the new vehicles, USA Today reports. Some of the challenges include storage and sudden tugs on the system. Researchers don't seem worried. They say between the prep work they're doing now and the time it will take for a shift to occur, the state should be alright.

Better, Faster, Cheaper: New Battery May Technology May Be on Horizon

A better battery may be coming for the next generation of hybrid-electric school buses. Several sources report on a new report in Nature from scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a new design for lithium ion batteries that allows the batteries to recharge more quickly. The similar lithium ion batteries are already in some hybrid-electric school buses and scheduled to to be in the Chevy Volt. But these can't accelerate quickly says Professor Gerbrand Ceder . The paper discusses a solution which has applications for laptops, cell phones and hybrid-electric vehicles. A great report at MSNBC, explains the science the behind the idea. The report also says that hybrid vehicle applications have some complications because the batteries are electricity-chuggers:

The ideal situation would be to have a network of high-power electric charging stations, which would allow you to juice up your electric vehicle on the road much as people fuel up their gas guzzlers today. Ceder and Kang estimate that an 180-kilowatt power source could give a full charge to the typical plug-in car's 15-kilowatt-hour battery in five minutes.

For school buses, with dedicated, regular runs, this probably wouldn't be as much of a problem. According to Scientific American story on the same report, the batteries would also be cheaper. This, coupled with increased production, would likely drive down vehicle costs. [On a side note, for willing to dirty their hands with the coments from the peanut gallery, comments below on the MSNBC story have a fascinating discussion of the real "greeness" of hybrid technology.]

Plugging Into Hybrid Futures

In 2009, everyone is talking plug-in hybrids, but do we have the infrastructure ready? Cheryl Jensen at the Washington Times automotive section reflects on the theme after a major auto show, asking whether she's pulled a Rip Van Winkle and "missed the years of the necessary infrastructure being put in place - and awoke to an electrified future." She asks, "How would my mother-in-law recharge one from the 33rd floor of her New York City apartment?"

Pupil transporters don't often find themselves in an office on the 33rd floor, but they want hybrids and they may have to prep to get their yard ready for hybrids. In Napa Valley, Calif., Ralph Knight had to change his power breakers from 110 volts at 10 amps to 220 volts at 30 amps to enable a four-hour rather than eight-hour charge. But Knight already had the charging stations set up from his experiments in all-electric school buses. What would it take to get your yard up to snuff?