They need to install a beeper on the bus or some kind of artificial noise.
I'm guessing many kids, like myself used the distant sound of the school bus stopping and starting as a final-call alarm clock letting you know that you really need to get your arse out of bed!!!

A good idea - but built on an old technology platform, this is a missed opportunity. To fully utilize the benefits of electric drive, the vehicle should be made both from light weight materials and with a modern aerodynamic body. This is the equivalent of a motorized horseless carriage. Here in Europe, this style of design disappeared in the early 90s.

This will be interesting to see how it works out. I wonder if they have things like A/C or heat and what that does for the over all service life of the battery packs and how that will off set the fuel use? Not against this just curios how it'll work out in real life? :-)

normal cost of the same size school bus? cost of the electric school bus? lifetime of both school buses? lifetime of the batteries? feed it all in and see if they are cost effective. something that both the schools and gizmag should be doing to give us readers a complete story instead of a blurb. i'm all for cutting pollution, cutting petroleum use, but give us a report please.

Did you know that some school busses have an exhaust pipe on the bottom passenger side, blowing poisonous fumes right into children's faces?
Same for many pickup trucks who adopted the right side pipe from the race track.
I knew an engineering prof at Munich Technical University who was fond of saying that every other engineer ought to be lined up and shot. He has a point.

The hydrocarbon fuel not bought at a pump is not a true measure of the operating savings, or even if there are savings. Questions: 1. What is the cost of the electricity used to charge the buses?
2. What kind of fuel is used to produce that electricity?
3. Do the electric vehicles cost more than the gasoline vehicles, and if so how much more and how much more per mile traveled?
4. What are the comparative costs of battery replacements and handling and maintenance compared to maintenance costs of gasoline or diesel bus?
5. What are the costs of any subsidies received by the buses?
So far the only message of this story is that California is using electric school buses. Is it another politically correct money hole for the state or a true economy?

Combining this design with wireless charging stations at intervals would extend the range of the buses and provide additional incentives for other vehicles to adopt the technology.

So, how much more does each bus cost, (opposed to conventional fuel powered buses), and what does it cost for equipment and electricity each day to re-charge each bus? Given the life expectancy of each bus, which one is more efficient?

I find it interesting that they tell us the fuel savings per year per bus, but not the cost of the bus. How many years before the new buses break even and start making money for the district? Ok, to be fair, let's look at the cost differential between new petroleum powered buses and the new battery operated ones.
Of course, heat and air aren't as important in California, but how are these buses going to fare in the rest of the country? Even though kids make good space heaters, I seriously doubt we want to rely on that for, say, a Minnesota winter.

School is canceled because somebody threw a crowbar into the substation and the buses still have dead batteries.