NEW ELECTRIC TYPE A SCHOOL BUS COMING FROM COLLINS

May 21, 2018 – The electric school bus market keeps charging up, now with a new Type A model on the way from Collins Bus Corp.

The forthcoming Collins electric school bus utilizes Motiv Power Systems’ Electric Powered Intelligent Chassis (EPIC), based on the Ford E-450 platform.

Motiv’s EPIC 4 Dearborn, the chassis for the Collins electric bus, has a gross vehicle weight rating of 14,500 pounds and a range of up to 75 miles. The battery pack capacity is 85 or 106 kilowatt-hours, with charging times of two hours for 50%, four hours for 75%, and eight hours for 100%.

The new electric Type A model joins Collins’ existing alternative-fuel school buses, which are powered by propane and compressed natural gas.

Kash Sethi, director of sales for Motiv, told SBF in April that a few school districts had already started applying for grant funding for the new Collins electric school bus. He said that the Motiv-powered Type A model is expected to be ready for delivery in the third quarter of this year.

Motiv is a Ford eQVM-approved provider of all-electric chassis for commercial trucks and buses. The company also supplies the powertrains for electric school bus models from Trans Tech and Starcraft/Creative Bus Sales.

At the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in Long Beach in early May, Motiv showcased the forthcoming Adaptive Battery Controller (ABC), its new technology for monitoring and controlling multiple independent battery packs. According to the company, the ABC reduces the control hardware’s footprint to 10% of its previous size and weight.

Sethi said that the new generation reduced-footprint ABC will be available sometime in 2019.

“Our unique approach to battery and motor control increases performance and reliability,” he said, “and we will maintain this approach with our next generation control system while reducing footprint and cost.”

This ARTICLE was written by Thomas McMahon and published in School Transportation News, on May 21, 2018.