Milton
This is just way too good of an idea. Seems like every school should run fundraisers to buy a couple of these.
Shohreh
In the Netherlands, people use the low-tech and much saner approach: Kids ride a bike to school.
RockyRandall
ROFLMAO I get a kick out of these articles that want to make people think electric is the be all to end all. Its as if the electricity is free and pure. Where did it come from ohh it just magical appears ????? How about the electricity used to charge the bus MIGHT be creating more pollution than the "dirty diesel" .How about the products going into the bus to make it in the first place?? Where does the products come from used to make the bus??? Especially the batteries. Also what about disposal of these items at the end of the buses life do they just magically disappear??? This is a very one sided article and certainly hasn't looked at the whole story of ANY electric vehicle. Ill gaurenttee you right now that Ontario for example that jumped on the "clean electric " band wagon won't be buying anyof these anytime soon.It will cost them as mucch as the bus is worth to run it for 6 months with the cost of electricty there .
Oideo de Campos
Probably the eletricity for battery chargement will come from a thermoeletric using diesel or charcoal.
LDHummel
Thanks Rocky for bringing up a few points no one wants to discuss.
JimThomas
There are many, many bus routes that are longer than 50 miles...some pushing 100 miles depending on the school district...that means charging in the middle of the day (prime time) vs charging in the late evening. Plus the infrastructure needed for charging stations that would handle a fleet of these buses. CNG buses would seem to be a better choice if emissions were the main concern since most fleets could be converted instead of replaced.
Milton
@Rocky Why continue to beat this dead-horse topic? It should be quite clear to you naysayers by now that electricity produced and used in the travel sector by the USA Grid is cleaner than gasoline used in the transportation sector (given US av. MPG figures). And to reverse your argument: DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH ELECTRICITY IS USED TO PRODUCE A SINGLE GALLON OF GASOLINE?
EcoLogical
Statistically, 1 in 10 kids has asthma (caused by fossil fuel emissions) … a 10 fold increase over historic levels. I know this first hand, since my grandson has asthma, my daughter has asthma, I have asthma, and my mother has asthma. It saddens me to see my grandson carrying a puffer and EpiPen everywhere, just like my daughter and I have had to do ☹ and it angers me when I see my grandson boarding a school bus powered by diesel ... Nitrous Oxide forms NITRIC ACID when it contacts water in your lungs i.e. DIESELS KILL KIDS !!!
habakak
RockyRandall....How about the products going into the bus to make it in the first place?? Where does the products come from used to make the bus??? Also what about disposal of these items at the end of the buses life do they just magically disappear???
All of these questions are applicable to ALL ICE vehicles too. So you really add nothing. Besides, you know the answer to all those questions. Vehicles mostly get recycled (all the metal at least, but also some other parts). Vehicle making indeed is a dirty business. And most of that dirt comes from making ICE's since 99% of all vehicles sold are ICE's.
Talk about the 'dirty business' of manufacturing batteries. Really? That is any worse than manufacturing ICE engines and the mining and refining the fuels that they run on?
As for the electricity that is used to charge this battery, it COULD be coming from renewable sources. Whether it does or not only matters in the short term since the world is moving to renewable energy. In 25 years from now most of the world electricity and overall energy will come from renewable sources. You won't be able to power dirty fossil fuel engines with clean renewable electricity. So going electric is a step in the direction of cleaning up not just our electricity generating infrastructure, but also our mobility model.
100+ years ago people like you were also poo-pooing gasoline engines, espousing the values of horse and buggies. Whether you want to make unfair comparisons or just look at one side of things, the world is changing and people like you will be left disgruntled. The cost of generating renewable energy is falling and fossil fuels will not get much cheaper. Renewable energy (the sun, wind, waves and geothermal heat) is available everywhere. The cost of generating it and both storing it (for when it is not available) is falling all the time. Solar and wind energy was impossibly expensive to run the world just 10 years ago. It has become viable since then and the economics of renewable energy will only improve even more over time. Since 2010 the cost of solar has dropped 70%. Now imagine another 70% drop by 2023. I don't expect you to see this though.
JasonArnold
*sigh* LDHummel, this HAS been discussed before - to death actually. Google "long tailpipe myth" for the electricity vs coal pollution debate. Also, Lithium batteries are highly recyclable and Ontario's electricity rates are cheapest at night, which is when these buses would be doing most of their charging.
Long story short: the article's not nearly as one-sided as RockyRandall's uninformed rant.