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Category: Engine Oil for Buses

Fleetio Fuel Helps School Transportation Departments Easily Track Fuel Use On-The-Go

Posted on by American Bus Sales

Fleetio recently launched their new app called Fleetio Fuel designed to help school transportation departments and fleets of all kinds quickly track fuel data. Fleetio Fuel is the first app of its kind, specifically designed to allow fleets and drivers to log fuel in just seconds with the use of a mobile phone or tablet.

The app provides fleets and school transportation administrators with comprehensive data including cost-per-mile, mpg, and distance between fill-ups to help optimize fuel costs.

Fleetio Fuel claims to eliminate the need for paper fuel receipts and purchase reconciliation by letting users input fuel costs and volume for vehicles assigned to them, along with fuel history for specific vehicles.

Drivers can also upload fuel receipts to a fuel record quickly and easily by simply taking a photo with the app. Fleetio Fuel also tracks a vehicle’s fill-up location using GPS to provide a thorough record of fuel purchases.

Fleetio Fuel is free for all Fleetio users. For more information, visit fleetio.com/fuel.

Propane Buses a Growing Trend In America’s Schools

Posted on by American Bus Sales

Over the past couple of years, a shift in the school bus industry has started and appears to be slowly sweeping the field. As budgets for school transportation shrink and emissions standards become more and more strict, many of the top school bus markets in the country are turning to propane-fueled buses and other alternative fuels to power their fleets.

The New York Times recently explored the changing of the tides rippling through the school bus industry and how propane-fueled buses may affect students and school transportation administrators across the country

Read more here.

Merger Joins Two Propane Bus Engine Suppliers

Posted on by American Bus Sales

A new deal announced last week will bring two suppliers of propane engines for school buses together.

Power Solutions International Inc., which provides an 8.8-liter engine for IC Bus’ new propane CE Series school bus, agreed to purchase Powertrain Integration (PI), which supplies an 8.0-liter V8 engine for Thomas Built Buses’ propane C2 school bus, according to School Bus Fleet.

Under the agreement, PSI will purchase the assets of PI and assume some liabilities. The purchase price is reportedly $21.6 million in cash and targeted contingent consideration of $8 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to be complete in approximately 30 days.

PI has been a long-time provider of General Motors powertrain solutions for niche on-highway OEMs and fleets, and specialized in alternative-fuel and gasoline systems.

“This acquisition fits perfectly into our on-highway strategy,” said Gary Winemaster, PSI’s chairman and CEO. “We’re not only expanding our product portfolio to give customers more options — we’re also adding PI’s years of on-highway experience, its technical expertise and its strong customer relationships to our own capabilities.”

PI President Robert Pachla added that the agreement “will strengthen and expand the on-highway business model we created 10 years ago at PI. We began as an engineering company and will build off of that expertise with PSI.”

Winemaster says customers shouldn’t worry, however as PSI will provide the same support for PI’s current General Motors engine programs, as well as its 8.0-liter V8 powertrain. He also says that PSI sees potential for growing the propane school bus market as well as the non-diesel RV market.

Florida School District Goes Green With Biodiesel

Posted on by American Bus Sales

Today is St. Patrick’s Day so it is no surprise everyone is wearing green, but one Florida school district is going green year-round. Orange County Public Schools’ entire school bus fleet is now running on biodiesel, greatly reducing the district’s use of traditional diesel.

The district’s fleet includes 1,274 buses which are powered by B20, a blend of 80% petroleum diesel and 20% biodiesel.

At its peak usage, OCPS used approximately 2.8 million gallons of fossil-based fuel per year. Since changing to B20 biodiesel however, they report cutting consumption by up to 560,000 gallons per year.

The fleet’s conversion to biodiesel is just one part of Orange County Public Schools’ long-term “Green Fleet” program. The other two tenants of the plan include an anti-idling campaign to reduce fuel use and a capital bus replacement campaign which integrates newer, more fuel-efficient buses with stricter emissions standards into the fleet.

Orange County Public Schools has one of the largest school bus fleets in America and transports around 72,000 students every day.

Propane Fuel Is Still The Cheapest Option, Despite Low Gas Prices

Posted on by American Bus Sales

Gas prices plummeted across North America this year. The prices for gasoline and diesel are both at their lowest point since 2009, which translates to considerable savings at the pump. The recent slump in prices has also caused some to rethink their position on alternative-fuel vehicles, as low fuel costs on diesel are expected to continue. But, you might be surprised to find out propane fuel, one of the most commonly used alternative fuels for school buses, have had the greatest decline of any other type of fuel.

Most people forget fuel prices also affect Propane, but that has not stopped the cost of the fuel from dropping 48 percent since February of last year. Gasoline is currently down 29 percent, while diesel is only down 28 percent.

“We highly encourage school districts to continue to look into propane-powered school buses as a viable means of fuel cost savings,” said Trey Jenkins, Vice President of Alternative Fuels for Blue Bird Corporation. “Propane autogas has been and continues to be the low-cost leader in fuel options. Propane-powered school buses will always show more savings based on the total cost of ownership of the vehicle. The lifetime of savings with a propane-powered bus will outweigh those of a comparable diesel-powered one.”

Additionally, many districts have locked-in their low propane prices through a multiyear contract with their local propane provider.

Blue Bird has been a consistent leader in propane bus technology, with over 4,500 propane buses in operation – six times more than any other manufacturer.

The low fuel prices are a win for consumers across North America. If you are considering upgrading your fleet for more energy-efficient and eco-friendly options, you are still likely to find considerable long-term savings.

Case Study Shows Propane Buses Run Reliably In Cold Weather

Posted on by American Bus Sales

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.

Diesel Prices Are The Lowest In Over 2 Years

Posted on by American Bus Sales
school bus gas
Photo by Mike Yoder

One of the highest expenses for school bus fleets is the cost of fuel, but School Bus Fleet reports diesel prices are at their lowest point in 2 years and may continue to drop.

The average on-highway price for diesel in the U.S. has dropped to $3.801 per gallon as of this morning, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A year ago, the average price was $3.974 per gallon. School Bus Fleet says the average U.S. diesel in price has been slowly declining since March 10 of this year when it peaked at $4.021 per gallon.

The latest numbers are the lowest average for diesel since July 30, 2012 when the reported average was $3.796.