In this issue:
HESB in the News

Monitoring

Phase III

January 2008
Plug-In Hybrid Electric School Bus Update

Welcome to the latest edition of the Plug-in Hybrid Electric School Bus E-News! In this issue, you can learn about our recent media events, monitoring efforts and the next phase of the project.

HESB in the News!
It seems like we’ve been everywhere in the past few months: South Carolina, Texas, Michigan and even Canada. In October 2007, buses 10 and 11 of the project were delivered to Richland District Two and Rock Hill District Three in South Carolina. Both districts held media events which were well attended. Dr. Lynn Moody, Superintendent of Rock Hill Schools, enthusiastically accepted the ceremonial electric cord and emphasized that the new bus would be used as a teaching tool on environmental stewardship. State Senator Wes Hayes joined other attendees in riding the bus to the district transportation complex. In Richland Two, South Carolina’s school bus driver of the year, Shellie Ryant, was further honored by his selection to drive the new plug-in hybrid bus on his route. His broad grin as he drove away from the media event said it all.

In November 2007, Austin Independent School District celebrated the receipt of their bus with a large event at Garcia Middle School. Hazel Barbour, Program Manager of the Clean School Bus Program of Central Texas stated that bringing the plug-in hybrid bus to Austin exemplifies how great things can be achieved when organizations work together toward a common goal. Trustee Vincent Torres, Vice President of the Austin School Board said, “Our willingness to test this bus for a year says we are committed to improving the quality of Austin’s air, and it says we are committed to creating an environment that is safer and healthier for our students.”

Our project team attended and presented at several conferences in recent months. We spoke to the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services and hosted a Buyers’ Consortium meeting at the National Association of Pupil Transit (NAPT) Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We made the official school bus timeline listed in the NAPT course book for School Bus Manufacturing, and at the trade show, IC Corporation had a hybrid school bus on display. At the beginning of November, Advanced Energy’s Hybrid Programs Director, Ewan Pritchard, was one of the keynote speakers at PHEV 2007 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He shared the stage with other plug-in hybrid vehicle notables including Andy Frank from the University of California at Davis and Chelsea Sexton from Plug-in America. Ewan was also interviewed for an excellent article that appeared in USA Today.

Buyer’s Consortium representatives have been in the media spotlight recently as well. CNN interviewed Meghan Ochs of Jennings Transportation on the Nazareth, PA bus.

Monitoring
Our Buyers’ Consortium members are entering fuel consumption and maintenance data using our online database tool. Members record the gallons consumed and the odometer reading, and from this we calculate fuel economy for both the plug-in hybrid buses and the conventional buses on each of their two routes.

We are also collecting data through the International Aware system installed on each hybrid bus. The chart below shows some of the data for the Manatee County buses in Florida. We offset the data for one of the buses by two weeks so you can see the definite increase in performance when the bus changes routes. In fact, the plug-in hybrid system increases average fuel economy by over 35 percent.

Click on image to view larger version.

All of our data indicates that the plug-in buses are performing better than the conventional buses. However, we are not seeing the increase in fuel economy that we expected. We are learning that performance is route-dependent. We can also demonstrate a drastic improvement in fuel economy when the buses are plugged in. In cooperation with Enova Systems, the hybrid drive system supplier to IC Corporation, Advanced Energy is gathering additional data under specific operating conditions that will help us to improve overall performance.

Phase III
The Plug-in Hybrid Electric School Bus Project has several phases. Phase I involved feasibility studies to demonstrate the technical and economic merits of the technology. We are in the middle of Phase II where we issued a specifications document, put a small number of buses on the road and monitored the performance to verify compliance with the specifications.

Phase III will be another bulk purchase from districts nationwide. We expect to order over 300 buses with an incremental cost of only $80,000. As in the Phase II purchase, Advanced Energy will help coordinate the buy and assist districts with grant funding applications.

If you know someone interested in joining the Buyers’ Consortium for this next phase, please forward this email or send them to our website to learn more.