Mid-Atlantic Electric School Bus Experience Project
These days, it seems like every automaker offers a plug-in electric model. Well now, we’re seeing an upturn in the number of larger passenger vehicles making that EV switch too. So, for millions of school students, that means their ride to school is about to get cleaner and quieter.
Nearly every day, in virtually every community and neighborhood around the country, 500,000 yellow buses hit the streets, transporting 26 million children to and from school. Taken as a whole, school buses make up the nation’s largest public transportation network, but about 95% of those buses run on diesel fuel. That puts the most vulnerable members of our populace at risk for respiratory problems and other issues linked to breathing exhaust fumes.
The recent growth of electrification for cars and trucks presents an opportunity to change that, and the recent infrastructure law includes two and a half billion dollars in federal aid, specifically to help school districts purchase zero-emission electric school buses and an equal amount for other low emission and electrified vehicles.
But making the electric switch requires education for those who will manufacture, purchase and use those buses, and that’s where programs like MEEP come into play. Meep is the Mid-Atlantic Electric School Bus Experience Project, spearheaded by the Virginia Clean Cities coalition and begun with funding from the US Department of Energy in 2019.
MEEP is working with bus manufacturers, school districts, and other partners to provide hands-on experience and extended demonstration loans of electric school buses to school bus fleets throughout Virginia, Maryland, DC, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey over the next two years.
ALLEYN HARNED: We’ve kicked off the program and already done more than twenty successful demonstrations, as well as six virtual events. This has led to the deployment of 100 electric school buses within the region.
JOHN DAVIS: This bus, known as Jouley, is manufactured by Thomas Built Buses in North Carolina, using an electric propulsion system developed by Proterra, and already proven through 8 million service miles on electric transit buses across America. Jouley has a driving range of about 138 miles and can recharge in just 3 hours using a DC fast charger.
JIM BEASLEY: Well, the routes that it runs. It runs in the AM and the PM mostly, predominantly. They’re easy to charge because there’s downtime in between, and they’re sitting overnight. They’re quiet, they run through the neighborhoods, and they’re non-polluters.
JOHN DAVIS: the electrification of school buses is gaining a groundswell of support from community leaders, parents and the students themselves.
SPEAKER: I am so proud of our students and the awareness they have, and they know now is the time to take the environmental legacy into their hands.
PAUL D’ANDRADE: And the main thing is about our kids, you know. We want them to have the opportunity to have zero emission buses, to have a nice quiet ride, and less effects on their health.
Our total amount of buses is just over 1600. We have eight electric buses, and we have ten we should get sometime next school year, and we put in the application for another grant for an additional ten.
JOHN DAVIS: Electrifying our nation’s school bus fleet won’t happen overnight. That 2-and-a-half billion dollars is expected to add about 10,000 electric buses to the national total over the next five years; but it’s an investment that will continue to pay huge dividends in awareness and one that will drive us towards a cleaner future for generations to come.
Waste Not Want Not
JOHN DAVIS: The concept of renewable fuels made from non-petroleum sources has a long history. Indeed, over the last four decades, we’ve seen how renewable fuels have been used with great success as sustainable alternatives to traditional gasoline and diesel. So, we thought we’d check out three examples where fast responses rely on reliable fuels, and see how green solutions are leading the way forward!
Our first stop is Vancouver, Washington, where the city’s fire department has made the switch to renewable diesel for its 27 fire trucks, engines and EMS squads. Also called RD or R99, renewable diesel is not the same as biodiesel. It is refined from plant oils and animal fats to become chemically identical to conventional diesel, which biodiesel is not. R99 performs better in cold weather and can be used without modification in any diesel vehicle.
The process of burning carbon soot out of a conventional diesel’s exhaust particulate filter, known as regen, can take a truck out of service for several hours over the course of a week. Using R99 instead, less soot builds up, increasing the regen intervals and requiring a less intense regen procedure.
The Vancouver Fire Department responds to 51,000 emergency calls each year, so every minute of downtime in the shop can be the difference between life and death.
CHUCK WINKLER: These vehicles have to work 100% of the time, all the time. So, reliability is our number one… Safety and reliability is our number one goal here, and R99 has really helped with that 100% reliability.
JOHN DAVIS: Then there is UPSA, one of world’s largest delivery fleets with 125,000 vehicles. UPS obtains nearly 40% of their transportation fuel from low-carbon sources, and has driven over 4 billion miles on alternative fuels. They are also the largest consumer of renewable natural gas in the transportation industry.
AL MURAT: While electric cars, electric vehicles, Es are going to play an important role, right now CNG and RNG is one of the important bridge points to getting there. So, rather than wait for those alternatives to grow in technology, we’re leveraging RNG right now as one of the best solutions.
JOHN DAVIS: RNG, also known as biomethane, is derived from decomposing organic matter at landfills, wastewater treatment plants, livestock farms, and food production facilities. RNG is interchangeable with conventional natural gas and can be used in existing pipelines.
This renewable natural gas fueling station at UPS’ eastern zone hub in Pennsylvania, is the largest in the UPS network. It services 220 tractors and 150 delivery vehicles, displacing 8 million gallons of diesel fuel per year. Renewable natural gas literally turns waste into clean energy, and is helping big brown deliver on its longtime commitment to go green.
Whenever a green flag drops, the extreme conditions of motorsports competition have long served as a testing ground and accelerator for technological development, and that now includes sustainability. Race organizers around the world have set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, and aim to reduce race-related emissions by 30%. The world endurance challenge series, which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans, now runs on a 100% renewable fuel derived from grape residue.
In a sport where lightning fast reflexes and instant throttle response can mean the difference between first place and also ran, a stable, power-dense fuel is a must, and you gotta admit, running race cars on wine is pretty dang cool!
These three sustainable petroleum substitutes are all winning formulas, ones we will be keeping an eye on.