Does This EV School Bus Put The First Nail in The Coffin Of The Classic Yellow DIESEL Kid Hauler? 

Predictable routes. Lots of downtime. Stop and start. Going through neighborhoods early in the morning, idling. EV is perfect for this application.

I'm comforted in this day of leading edge engineering this "new" school bus still has all those rattles that I grew up with riding to school!

As a school bus driver myself, I CAN'T WAIT until electric buses become more popular. Just the noise and the hard time starting in the cold makes diesel buses tiring after a while. I deal with screaming kids all day I don't need a screaming engine too😂

That much battery power could back feed schools with emergency power.

Glad to see the LiFePO4 battery chemistry in vehicle use. The chemistry is more safe and provides hundreds/thousands more charge cycles.

A real world 200 mile range school bus can probably meet 80% to 90% of school bus fleet range requirements. The remaining buses can remain diesel fueled for missions needing more extended distances such as field trips and other special uses. And maybe, a small selection of buses with an extended range battery pack or a range extender generator can be installed for use when needed. Say something in the 10 to 20 KW capacity area. Those already exist and are for all intents and purposes off the shelf items already available for bus size vehicles.

Seems like the perfect roof for supplimentary solar.

I love how the component test shelf is covered with “Danger: High Voltage” signs and orange high voltage cables, and Andre just reaches in to touch each of the components :D

I worked at IC Bus for 5 years. I'm impressed by this bus and commend the company for this accomplishment.

Electric school buses make so much sense. Studies have shown that exposing children to diesel fumes results in an increase in life long health problems.

I think school busses would do great as EVs and would be a lot more pleasant over all they dont need super long range in most cases like he said 80mi a day and that is a decent avg so 200mi would actually cover that very well

They building these at Lion buses in St Jerome near me, 30min from Montreal, Canada. I love it 👍

Perfect EV application. I've been wondering when I'd start seeing these. Add some solar panels to the roofs, then in the off season (sunny summer time) the bus fleet can be a solar farm and feed power into the grid, and reduce electric costs for the school district.

That bus has a lot of features that I haven't seen on recent Thomas buses! Those steering wheel door buttons are pretty sweet.

they have to do more suspension cameras with trucks and stuff... i love watching the body roll of the vehicle and seeing how the wheels stay in contact with the road. IMAGINE IF HE GOES OVER A SPEED BUMP WHILE THE OTHER GUY SITS IN THE BACK THO. THAT WOULD BE FUNNY

I like the "batteries included" on the bus. That's funny!

On one of the other test drives, they stated the cost of a medium duty diesel truck was less than $100 for a cab & chassis and that the corresponding EV was 200 - 250% higher, or $200k - $250k. I would imagine the EV bus is in the same price range.

these busses are well talked about up here in Canada during the cold weather testing and the customers who purchased them and with the LIFePO4 batteries being far safer than regular EV batteries used in cars, and not effected as much either in the winter months, the infrastructure is worth several $$$ , it does pay for itself and all busses are charged during off peak hours so the rate is 45% savings and is way cheaper than diesel fuel and it no longer has to be stored on site in tanks, $500k/year saved, these batteries will probably have a 20 yr service usage easily before they go onto be used as a future storage facility for a solar sight or operation, Great video Andre 👍

A school bus is a nearly prefect candidate to be an EV. They can charge at a central location. They have a fixed known route. They run on a fuel ten times less expensive. The brakes will likely last many years thanks to regenerative braking. In fact any local fleet like USPS, UPS, Fedx Amazon will soon switch to EVs...

I drove transit busses in graduate school, and we had some hybrid buses that had regenerative brakes. They were by far my favorites to drive -- you could almost do real one-pedal driving. They were so easy to drive smoothly.

The application is perfect for an electric chassis. The major downsides at this point are the up front cost of the busses and the huge infrastructure investment that will be required to charge any significant number of busses.

My second biggest hope for electric school busses, is that I can get one from a district and convert into an electric SCHOOLIE RV!! That could be a kick for RV travel. 200 mile range, and space for travel in comfort once converted. Pipe dream, but a fun one!

Perfect application for EVs, also postal trucks and police cars etc.

I love how the battery pack underneath is all in Chinese writing lol

Roman, I really wish you would have discussed cost vs diesel. Then ROI and how long it would take a school district to recoup the costs of bus purchase. What does it cost to run the EV for a year vs Diesel, etc. Maybe a part 2?

I think a school bus is a perfect platform for electrification. Lower center of gravity is awesome. Looking forward to to a ground up purpose built as an electric vehicle from the start, I am sure such a design will bring a myriad of innovations to the humble school bus. I probably will never drive a school bus full of kids again but I wouldn’t mind purchasing an electric bus as a family recreational vehicle!

This is so cool to see for so many ways. Kids in the future dont have to smell the smoke from the exhaust. Cheaper to run and maintain at the fleet at the depot . 😍😍😍😍😍

I'm glad they preserved the original squeaks and rattles instead of piping them in. Kids need that.

Most of the schools around here have switch back to gasoline buses instead of diesel and the maintenance costs are much lower. EV would probably work well for all but some of the bigger rural districts where range might be an issue.

Finally someone talked about the cold effect on the e drive….10%loss isn’t that bad

Saw an article/headline that Montgomery County School District (Maryland) is going to be starting to change their bus fleet to EVs. I wonder what the "cabover" design would be like. Similar but still would be fun to see.. or the mini bus!!

I'm so excited to see this. I have made posts on Reddit that someone needs to retrofit old busses into electric, and put solar panels on the roof. I hope before I finish this video they mention if there is a solar roof option for rural use cases/off grid.

I can't wait to see these in Chicago weather.

Thanks, TFL, for the many EV videos. This makes me think EV vehicles are closer to reality than in the labs. Especially for larger trucks and busses.

LOL. An electric school bus will never replace the diesel school bus I drove for work. I was doing 240 miles a day one year. That gave me maybe 3 breaks of maybe 20 minutes during the day. I'd need 3 of those electric busses just to get me through the day!

For the first 17 mins I thought it was 3D tracked in after effects until I seen there wasn't an exhaust pipe. After that I believed it. This is a cool idea I can't' wait for my school buses to have an electric powertrain.

Would love to see the first RV convert…..

Man when I was a kid I remember standing towards the back of the bus while waiting to get on. I would do that when its cold out side because that is where the engine and exhaust. It will keep me warm during those cold winter days. Now with this, that will suck.

In emergencies, the bus is a portable battery bank for hospitals and emergency sites.

I am excited for silent peaceful mornings. Now only if the landscapers would give up there 2 strokes for electric tools.

Andre: I’ve never driven a bus 🚌 before Also Andre: drives with one hand while turning and talking to someone behind him. 👍🏾

I wonder if they will eventually build these with hub motors and AWD for cold climates? I know a school bus is pretty capable in snow with a set of chains and a well trained driver but AWD is something that can be implemented easily with electric conversion

I like the idea of electric school buses. And, if you put charging ports at the schools, buses can also charge while waiting for school to let out. Bus almost always arrive 30 minutes prior to the release bell ringing. Buses can use that time to charge if they have charging ports at the schools. However, I would keep the propane and diesel buses around for school field trips and ball games that are a long distance. Normal bus routes are no problem for electric school buses but long distance trips, field trips and ball games, might be a challenge so I would keep the fuel buses around at least until charging times get shorter and battery ranges get better. The electric school buses are completely silent. That can be a problem for pedestrians because, they can't hear it. Same goes for students sitting on the couch waiting for the bus. We've all done it when we were little, sitting on the couch waiting for the bus. I did it when I was in school. And, the rumbling diesel engine noise was a dead give away that the bus had arrived. If you can miss the diesel engine noise, you can miss anything. But electric duses are completely silent so you're not going to have the diesel engine rumbling noise like you do with diesel buses. Very easy to miss the bus at that point. However, this is easily remedied. A diesel powered bus will have the loud rumbling noise that we all grew up with. You can generate that diesel engine noise with a sound chip and loud speaker. But, I believe that electric school buses are going to be a major game changer for student transportation.

Don't forget to partner up with museums, zoos, city parks to create bus access charge points at field trip destinations

He said 315 kW but probably meant 315 kWh battery capacity. Nice large battery capacity!

This is definitely a practical application for EV, I don't think for regular vehicles EV is the way, but for something like this, spot on.

I think that's the best thing they can do with the school bus is not traveling as much as they do on their shorts trips to pick up the students it's a wonderful thing best thing they can come up with and it looks like it's a safer way to do

in 20 years the kids wont know the nostalgic atmosphere of 2 dozen idling diesels loading up with kids

My man totally forgot to look at the right hand switch panel for cruise control 😅😅 Still a great vid as usual!

Electric school buses seem pretty cool, I can see into the future of them having led screens bill boards on the side of them with many different company advertisement's to help cover expenses.

I love that test bench, also love the idea of the new one. I was thinking that there is an advantage to having a full bus to test on, but the accessibility of having the components easily swappable is nice with the current setup. If it was me, in a dream world, you all would have a giant tube frame bus with all the same mounting points, but infinitely more accessible and you can see it all because it's a tubular frame.

I like the camera pointing at the Chinese battery pack

Seems like the perfect application of electric vehicle technology. Slow stop and go driving. Just an observation so please don't get mad at the comment.

315 kilowatts of battery? They should have said 315 kilowatt-hours. It’s embarrassing how many people are clueless about power and energy units, even supposed EV spokespeople.

Until half a bus full of kids die due to ev battery failure which is usually way more spontaneous than if something happens with a diesel engine

Not sold. What is the highway speed? Normal around here is rough roads, dirt and crappy hardtop. Children on the bus for Over 90 minutes both to and from school. Is the bus running ac? How does that affect the batteries?

You know, as someone who drives a five ton all night in the winter in Canada I can really see the advantage of a bunch of weight right through the frame. That might really help the "empty lunch box in the wind" feeling I get sometimes.

What sucks is that now there’s a reason not to add air conditioning to school buses… Edit: just to be clear, I’ve never been on a school bus that has air conditioning (I’m aware they exist, but in eastern Massachusetts, I haven’t seen one). They all have heat, but none have ac. Or seatbelts

Great video. I think every school district should be looking at these buses.

My First Student location is looking to get these buses soon so this is good to look at for preview purposes

A challenge in some of the school districts around me is the drivers park the busses near their homes overnight because the district is spread out. It would require designating spaces at the nearest school for charging, having the ability to download charging data to reimburse drivers, or install power meters at drivers' homes.

Cabin heater fuel? (on the cluster) Does this mean its burning dinosaurs to keep our kids warm? 🤣

Any mention of V2G? Most electric school bus operators plan to use the downtime the fleet has to timeshift power back to the grid as profit.

This was great coverage. School buses have seemed like a great candidate for electrification to me for a while. The two things I kept waiting for during this video, were comparisons between ICE and EV School buses on up front cost and TCO. Are those numbers available?

So, the average school bus in the US drives 130km in one day and this electric school bus has the largest battery in the industry that can go 320km on a single charge. That means you can easily do two days without charging the bus at the bus depo and still have 30km left at the end of day. Of course, this will vary on the route taken. We can easily drop diesel buses that can increase the chances of cancer, especially in younger children who are more susceptible to harmful gases.

How much does this bus cost? How much does a comparable diesel bus cost? EV’s have much lower operating costs. What is the payback period in years? Kyle must know this because he needs that info to convince customers to switch. Wish you had asked and shown cost comparison details

Back in the early 2000 for high school route we had a electric bus but we only rode it 3 times. One time it it broke down and we had to transfer over to a different bus.

What’s in the frunk?

I used to drive a country route in a bus and only drove 32 miles in the morning and 32 miles in the evening. An electric bus with 50 miles range would be perfect. Leave diesel busses for field trios.

The IC bus you are riding is an IC CE, and I never saw a CE EV with a grille before.

Yes, there is cruise control its the 2 switches to the left above the radio

The electrical grid is not here for school bus charging and wont be for a long time. Take every school bus parking lot. Now fully destroy it, wire in millions in chargers, and repour the parking lot. That's only the bus station, now the city has to upgrade service and so on.

I am a bus driver and for normal student pick up it makes sense but then when you have a 3hr one way field trip that’s when the diesel is still needed

School buses and mail trucks are some of the best applications for EVs.

Never had seat belts on buss's I rode on. The aisles were wider. (in my day) The EV makers need to change the dumb fuel gauge icon from a fuel pump to an EV charging cable. And finally, he said we would be seeing these things coming everywhere? 🤣 Good luck with that. I rode a bus that was 20 years old and often being replaced with a "sub bus" because it was in constant need of repair instead of just buying a new, reliable, efficient buss. Guess what? That same bus is STILL taking kids around in my district 30 more years later. Budget in the districts here do NOT go into transportation. ;)

This makes more sense since they are parked 50% of time and if it can get 200miles i think it is sufficient for 90% of city and suburban school needs

I remember I would always hate the fumes these busses would produce not to mention how loud it is when you’re standing next to one as it accelerates away

Nobody seems to comment on cost and where the power to charge each bus comes from. Then the cost for each station, repair costs, new power grid system, cost to train mechanics if they can qualify to work on them and so much more. Economic nightmare.

This IC was at my work back in December. I was very impressed with how it was built and cant wait to see it in production!

But for the most part this would work perfectly for drivers who work split shifts. That's a huge savings in fuel and maintenance

I remember as a kid hating to ride the bus because the diesel smell made me car sick easier

Since the motor is in the back, the compressor is accessed from the side and the batteries are between the frame rails, what's under that large hood?

M1 racetrack in Pontiac Michigan?

They should do a Diesel electric. Have a diesel generator charge the battery. Trains use the same thing, & they’re rly efficient.

I can’t understand why all of these EV companies skip using a a $300 heat pump in their vehicles. Keeping that bus warm with resistive heating in the north, could be as much power as driving itself. Also, on a bus making sure it’s super insulated and doing double pane windows would’ve been a huge addition to efficiency and range.

Ann Arbor, Michigan is about to do electric school buses

I love IC bus they are the best in the industry and i love the design and the sound of the bus 😎

What is the negative health impact to the children and the drivers of these buses sitting on top of a huge battery putting out a large electromagnetic field, people are not stopping to think about the long term impacts to health.

12:18 thermal event what a nice way of saying explode We learned that from Samsung Note 7

Sure the guys a sales rep but he really knows his stuff... Respect

Busses - great application. Here’s the BIGGEST BENEFIT I see - educating the public. Folks that are unsure of how safe, reliable, and useful electric vehicles can be, will SEE electric school busses EVERY DAY soon, and that exposure and familiarity will help folks make the change with their personal transportation as well.

With the volume of roof on a bus I would have thought solar on top would have been feasible to some degree

200 miles from a 315kWHr battery pack, works out to about 1.6 KW/mi. I wonder if you could tow a diesel generator for long trip, like for athletics? Say you have a trip from Laramie HS to Rock Springs HS (212 miles). So about 678 KW used for the trip. That trip takes about 3.5 hours each way. With 3 hours downtime for the bus during the activity (maybe more depending on sport), you have a total of 10 hours run time for the generator. Using a Generac MDG75DF4 Diesel Generator, at 68KW, it would generate roughly 680 kWHr during the trip....enough to charge the battery fully, twice. Even running it only during downtime would almost give it enough power to make the trip home. I assume towing the trailer would cost some efficiency, but not as much as an F150 would lose...the bus is a great big wind-break for the trailer, and the Generac has a much smaller profile than what TFL tested behind the Ford. Even figuring a 25% loss in range due to the trailer, it works out to about 850KW needed. Given the 315KW in the battery to start, plus the 680KW generated on the 10 hour trip, you have an 18% cushion. And the generator would still have 17 hours worth of fuel onboard in case of emergency (road closures, etc.). Not sure about charging while driving, or if using a dedicated DC generator would be better than the off-the-shelf one I looked up. My initial thought was having an onboard generator much like RVs have, but thought it might be better to have a larger one towed as needed, rather than always be hauling the extra weight of a smaller one. Plus, for longer trips, a larger would be needed anyhow. You can get towable units that would charge this bus as fast as it uses the energy (cruising, not floored). A diesel bus gets about 9mpg, so would use about 47gal. My idea above would use about the same using the generator. So no real savings there. But the savings for the regular bus usage would be significant. Laramie pays $0.1449/kWHr for electricity, much of which can come from wind power (NEVER a shortage of wind in Wyoming...they really ought to turn those damn fans off). That works out to under 24 cents per mile. Compared to diesel at $4.47/gal (today's cheapest price in Laramie), which works out to a hair under 50 cents per mile, or about double.

kW is is a measure of power, not energy. So if you say the bus has 315 kW, it's like saying it has 428 horsepower. I'm sure you mean the battery size is 315 kWh. That being said, I hope all school busses go electric. Great product.

The 2 on/off switches should say the words ON / OFF easily readable once door is open.

cant't wait for the surplus auction in 10 years to buy one!

I see property taxes going up to buy EV bus for public schools

Shouldn’t regen be positive and accelerator pedal be negative???

😁i hate you for making a school bus interesting. lol. EV school bus makes perfect sense. keep up the interesting videos

I think is a great idea. Low mileage routes, central area to recharge. This will take time; my school district replaces two school buses per year. But clearly the future.