Data Released at 15th STN EXPO Trade Show
RENO, Nev. (Aug. 1, 2008) — During the “Green is …” 15th STN EXPO Trade
Show, it was fitting IC Bus released a white paper on how school bus
operators can realize up to 70 percent increases in fuel economy.
While pointing out that the calculation of accurate data is reliant on
accurate testing, the aim of “School & Commercial Bus Fuel Economy”
sets out to give best practices. It reiterated the highest savings
figures of 50- to 70 percent cited the past few months by IC tied to
the plug-in hybrid electric school bus, and non-plug in hybrids can
save 20- to 40 percent. But it also discussed how more mundane changes
to operations can help improve a school district’s or private school
bus company’s bottom line. For example, driver behavior can save as
much as 30 percent on fuel economy through gradual braking and
acceleration and limited idling. Fuel economy is reduced by one percent
for every hour of idling.
“An easy way to reduce this is to include a Vehicle Idle Shutdown Timer in a bus’ specifications,” states the IC paper.
Other ways to reduce fuel consumption include proper usage of a
vehicle’s automatic transmission fuel economy mode, a topic of an STN
EXPO maintenance workshop the day prior, can save between 3- and 5
percent. Shift energy management and transmission retarders are also
available benefits. While increasing the cost of a new school bus by
approximately $7,000, using EPA 2007-compliant diesel engines increases
fuel economy by 9 to 15 percent. The paper also discusses proper tire
inflation, citing figures from a Clemson study that show a 1 percent
reduction for every 10 PSI a tire is under-inflated. Improper oil
levels can decrease fuel economy by 2 percent. According to Society of
Automotive Engineers data, which IC recognizes as having the best
standardized tests for fuel economy, synthetic axle lubricants can
improve fuel economy by 1- to 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, axle misalignment
reduces fuel economy by 0.6 percent.
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