Like most American schoolchildren, I have fond memories of riding on big yellow buses and inhaling big diesel fumes.
Companies like Lion Electric are looking to change the diesel school bus experience by offering a trio of electric buses that will transform and make the commute greener (not greener) for students across the country.
Electric school buses are ideal for widespread commercial adoption, they are the largest form of public transport with 480,000 rides served on school days. They don’t usually drive very long routes, they stop and start often, and they have a lot of predictable time. This will allow schools to use a fast charger even if a higher voltage fast charger is not installed on site. Level 2 charging will be enough to fully charge buses overnight or even when they are idle during the school day and it’s much cheaper/easier to install than a DC fast charging station.
The EPA has also targeted school busses as a way to reduce widespread pollution, and the agency recently detailed a $5 billion valuation. school bus program, including a $500 million initial installment as part of the latest infrastructure bill. The program includes a lottery for funding and prioritization of internal combustion bus replacement applications in high-need, rural and Tribal areas. And the discount applies not only to vehicles, but also to the installation of the necessary charging hardware.
Lion electric truck 6
To get a sense of what these electric buses would be like, I went to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., for some time behind the wheel of a Lion 6 commercial van that shares a class 7 chassis. with Lion School Buses A and C (buses were not available for us to test at this event). There is a big difference in the height of the vehicles, but from a driving point of view, the two will be quite similar with the same power output. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to drive the truck on a NASCAR-ready oval track, but the domestic track was substituted for a test drive of the Lion6 and several other commercial electric trucks.
Lion offers several battery and range configurations for Lion 6 and also school buses. The version I tested came with the biggest battery setup. Three battery packs are mounted around the frame (two in the center, one in the rear) with a total capacity of 252 kWh and an estimated 200-mile range. On a school bus, the range will drop to an estimated 155 miles. These packages include a pair of stacked BMW i3 42.2 kwh batteries, so they can be cooled simultaneously. Power numbers come in at 335 hp and 1,800 lb-ft of torque.
The first thing you notice when driving these large vehicles with electric drive is how easy everything seems. Jump in the seat, press a button to put the car in control, release the air brake and roll away. Thanks to all the instantaneous torque from the electric motor, acceleration is surprisingly linear and it makes these cars feel smaller than they really are (I felt the same way when testing the car). Thomas’ Jouley tram bus last year). Without the oversized steering wheel, it would feel like driving a full-size SUV or an HD truck.
As good as a diesel engine can produce torque at low revs, it’s not in the same class as electric motors that don’t require rotation. Driving a truck without a diesel engine will take some getting used to. The Lion 6’s cabin is eerily quiet, save for the hum of the air suspension on the uneven surface of the track.
Lion6 does not offer different subscription levels. It keeps it simple with what I describe as a very noticeable average amount of regen if you come to a sudden stop but still require the brakes to slow the truck to a full stop. Lion representatives say this is intended to make truck and bus operators less complicated as they adapt to electric vehicles and to prevent drivers from turning off regen for initial ease of use, which should reduce some effect that these means are trying to bring. .
Electronic school bus Lion C
Lion lists a charge time of 11 hours on a Level 2 charger, which drops to about 4 hours on a 50 kw DC fast charger. There’s plenty of time to catch the overnight school bus. Lion also says another advantage of the electric bus is that it can be cooled or heated while plugged in and idling, in preparation for the route. On a diesel-powered bus, the engine would need to run for that to happen, and that contributes to the emissions a school bus produces over its lifetime.
Lion Electric’s three school buses account for a large proportion of the company’s future sales. Of the 2,422 vehicles in the current order book, nearly 90% of them (2,136 vehicles) are electric school buses. And the company has detailed plans to open a big factory to build HD commercial buses and trucks in Joliet, Illinois, later this year. The plant will have a capacity of 20,000 vehicles and Lion said it will scale up production to meet orders and demand. The company’s current plant in Canada is only capable of producing 2,500 vehicles, so it’s a huge upgrade in terms of production capacity for these vehicles.
In addition to the Illinois plant, Lion also plans to open a battery factory of its own in Quebec later this year, and batteries from that facility will begin appearing in Lion vehicles later this year. That plant will have a final production capacity of 5 gigawatt-hours annually, or enough batteries for 14,000 commercial vehicles per year. It also gives the company greater control over the style and size of the batteries to better integrate them into the different chassis Lion offers.
It is encouraging to see government investment and private sector manufacturing increase rapidly to address environmental and emissions concerns. School kids can still make their own yellow bus memories, but this time they won’t stink like that.
