Current Events: Electric School Bus Makes Debut

Emission-free and environment-friendly, a new electric school bus made its debut Thursday at Carl H. Hankey Elementary.

The first of its kind in the county, the vehicle looks like a regular school bus, with a yellow body, flashing lights, rows of high seats and red stop sign. But in motion, it is quite different as its electric motor hums and it cruises along with no exhaust fumes.

“It smells good,” said Hankey sixth-grader Kaanan Shah, whose class took a trial ride on the bus. “It’s quieter. When you stop at the lights you can’t hear the engine.”

Students, business leaders and officials of Capistrano Unified School District were on hand to see the vehicle take its place among the other 100 buses in the district’s fleet. The electric vehicle will be on a regular school route starting in September.

“The kids are going to have fun riding the ‘newest’ bus,” school board member Sheila Benecke said.

Manufactured by Blue Bird Corp., the 72-passenger bus is 32 feet long and made of steel. It is operated by a 200-plus horsepower AC electric motor and 112 batteries, which are divided into four packs of 28, that produce 336 volts. With a maximum speed capacity of 55 mph, the electric bus has a range of 80 miles and can be recharged in around four hours.

Capistrano Unified purchased the $150,000 bus with help from a grant program sponsored by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The grant covered 50% of the cost; the district was able to buy the bus for $75,000. A regular diesel-powered bus costs about $90,000.

Capistrano officials say they expect the electric bus to be far less expensive to operate than gasoline-powered vehicles. Their motors are designed to last 100,000 miles or 10 years without major service.

And the cost of electricity to charge the batteries will be 9 cents to 10 cents a mile, compared with 12 cents a mile for diesel fuel.