APS Working on Battery-Operated Bus

APS Systems, an Oxnard engineering and manufacturing concern, once depended heavily on defense contracts for its survival. Now, however, the company is taking the bus--the electric bus--toward a new life in the post-Cold War world.

By last year, APS’ contracts to produce ground-support equipment for U. S. military aircraft had pretty much dried up, said Nick Advani, the firm’s president.

So Advani and his engineers designed a battery-operated engine and installed it in a former diesel bus for Santa Barbara’s Metropolitan Transit District. The bus has been carrying passengers in Santa Barbara for the past seven months and, Advani said, “we haven’t had any complaints yet.”

Now, backed by grants from the California Energy Commission and Santa Barbara’s Air Pollution Control District, APS is completing a battery-operated school bus.

Calstart, the nonprofit consortium in Burbank that hopes to create an advanced transportation industry in California, is spearheading the Oxnard firm’s project. The 67-passenger APS bus is scheduled to be completed within the next few weeks.

Thus far, APS has been installing battery systems weighing up to 7,500 pounds in buses formerly powered by diesel engines. But the company, which has 45 employees, is now developing a lightweight bus designed specifically for an electric engine. If successful, the 30-foot vehicle will be marketed nationwide, Advani said.

“We’ll use aluminum and other materials to lighten the unit. Manufacturers of diesel-powered buses don’t worry about weight. But when you’re using battery-powered engines, the poundage matters,” he said.

Initially, Advani estimates that his all-new electric bus will sell for $220,000, compared with $140,000 for comparable diesels. But he said that battery-powered buses cost 10% to 20% less than their diesel counterparts to operate and that maintenance costs are considerably lower.

Bill Van Amburg, a spokesman for Calstart, said there is widespread interest in battery-powered buses because “they’re completely clean environmentally, in contrast to fume-spewing diesels.”

Van Amburg said thousands of jobs could be created in California if the state becomes the center of an electric bus industry. He said several companies in the state besides APS and Bus Manufacturing USA are developing the vehicles.