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Clean School Bus Related Articles South Carolina Adds Hybrid School Buses to State Fleet
| South Carolina Adds Hybrid School Buses to State Fleet |
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| Tuesday, 02 March 2010 14:36 |
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CHARLESTON – South Carolina will triple its fleet of hybrid diesel-electric school buses this year, but the school buses will be the only ones purchased as the state's 15-year replacement cycle was waylaid by the economy.
According to a release from the South Carolina Department of Education, the replacement cycle has been fully funded just one time – in 2007 – because of budget cuts. Instead, this year two Thomas Built Buses low-emission hybrid diesels backed by an electric motor are being assigned to elementary, middle and high school routes in the Aiken and Charleston County school districts. Two similar vehicles are expected to be delivered to two upstate districts within a month. South Carolina was the seventh state in the nation to use hybrid technology in its fleet, getting two plug-in diesel-electric buses in 2007.“We’d love to have additional replacements for the older, more polluting buses still in use, but these hybrids are a welcome improvement for the environment and for the health and safety of our students," said Jim Rex, the state's superintendent of education. “Exhaust, soot and greenhouse gases will be reduced, and we’ll see significant fuel savings because of the hybrids’ better mileage.” The hybrids are designed to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy by 30 percent or more. According to Thomas, the bus operates with hybrid assist at lower speeds, with the diesel kicking-in when needed. When the driver eases off the accelerator, the hybrid’s electric cell generates its own electricity, so energy is not lost out the tailpipe, but instead harnessed to charge the battery. The result is a quieter vehicle that also promises maintenance savings because of less wear-and-tear on the brakes and drive train. South Carolina was awarded a federal grant of nearly $554,000 in 2009 that’s paying about half the cost for the four new hybrids. EPA is also using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to support state projects that create jobs while protecting air quality. Part of the Department of Education’s EPA grant is funding retrofits for crankcase ventilation filtration systems on 500 of the state’s 1995 model buses. That upgrade will result in an estimated 4.7 ton reduction in diesel emissions. Grant monies also are helping DHEC train school bus drivers about specific actions they should take to eliminate unnecessary diesel idling. The state’s 5,700 school buses travel more than 79 million miles a year and consume 12-and-a-half million gallons of fuel. The fleet has moved to 5 percent bio-diesel and plans to transition to 20 percent bio-diesel fuel in the future. Nearly 80 percent of the buses have been in service 10 years or more. |