While many schools across the country are incorporating propane-fueled buses in their fleets, but schools in northern portions of the US may be nervous about how the fuel performs in cold weather. Well, Bend-La Pine Schools in Oregon have good news: propane buses run reliably in cold weather and still show reduced fuel costs.
School Bus Fleet reports the school district now has 40% of its fleet running on propane autogas, which offsets 145,000 gallons of diesel per year.
The school decided to replace their aging buses with the newer fuel source in 2009, when Director of Transportation Denice Blake saw that many of their vehicles were over 30 years old.
“I had attended a local conference and test-drove a Blue Bird Propane Vision bus,” Blake said. “I was impressed with its power and quiet ride, especially since it ran on a clean-operating, affordable fuel.”
One of the biggest issues was troubled with diesel fuel gelling in low temperatures.
“With overnight sub-zero temperatures, we couldn’t keep diesel buses running because of the ever-changing quality of the fuel,” said Dave Voiles, the district’s service manager. “This hasn’t been an issue with our propane autogas buses.”
Voiles says the autogas buses average 95% reliability, while the newest diesel buses in the fleet only run at 60% to 65% reliability. Also, Voiles said that the district is saving “thousands of dollars a year using autogas compared to diesel fuel.”
You can see more on the case study here.
