Two of the first 19 hybrid school buses have just been delivered to Manatee County, Florida as part of the Plug-In Hybrid Electric School Bus Project. Designed to test the viability of the new buses, a hybrid and a control bus will travel the same route, alternating every two weeks, for a period of two years which should equate to more than a million miles of service each.

An array of different measures will be tracked via a GPS system including acceleration, deceleration, braking, fuel economy and more. It is hoped that fuel economy improvements of 70 to 100 percent will be realized on the plug-in hybrid vehicles plus a reduction in emissions of up to 90 percent. The hybrids will join the district's fleet which includes about 250 biodiesel-powered buses.

Analysis: These buses are manufactured by IC Corporation which has called on Enova Systems who we've reported on before to produce their hybrid-electric drivetrains. Plug-in electric technology should work well in this case as the buses return to the same depot every night where they can be charged. At $225,000 each, these buses aren't cheap, but their emissions are also expected to be 90 percent lower!

Related:

• Smith Electric Vehicles, Enova partner up for zero-emission van, truck
• Getting off the gas in Hawaii
• Enova to Provide Power Control Units for Th!nk Electric Vehicles

[Source: Bradenton Herald]

Prototype hybrid school buses made by IC Corp. were on display at Cardinals Stadium in Arizona this past Wednesday for hundreds of school district employees. Why were the buses in Arizona? Maybe it was to drum up a sale or two. While 19 of the clean buses (compared to standard school buses, emissions are about 90 percent lower and gas mileage is between 35 and 55 percent higher on the hybrids) will be delivered to school systems across the U.S. next year, none have so far been ordered in Arizona. IC Corp. also makes hybrid-less school buses, seen above.

Related:

• Twelve states getting diesel-electric hybrid school buses
• Enova chooses Cobasys' NiMHax batteries for service vans

[Source: The Arizona Repoblic]