Many of today’s home and office (HOD) delivery truck drive soother, sound quieter, require less maintenance, and are more environmentally friendly than in years past. More are using alternative fuels that release fewer emissions than diesel and gasoline-powered trucks. Some bottled water companies are turning to propane-powered vehicles to make their daily deliveries.
You are probably aware of people fueling vehicles with gasoline or diesel, but propane is starting to be used for more than just heating your home. Since buying their first propane school bus in 2016 the alternative fuel replaces three out of the North Crawford School District’s five buses. “And we do have plans to hopefully buy a fourth one in the coming year or two,” North Crawford School District Business Manager Demetri Andrews explains. Andrews says potential savings of propane initially drew him in.
In 2017, Blue Bird delivered its milestone 10,000th propane autogas school bus.
With a prolonged period of stable diesel fuel prices and new competition emerging from electric vehicles, “we’ve got to go back out and spark it again,” Lindsay said. There are several new tools at the disposal of the natural gas industry that could make that effort successful.
In celebration of Earth Day, Pittsburg Unified School District (PUSD) is showcasing its sustainability practices, green projects, and the groundbreaking of a new solar/wind generation farm. PUSD will display two newly-purchased all-electric school busses, its new propane powered bus fleet, electric charging stations, school garden program, student projects, and will be joined by community partners who support the District’s sustainability practices.
Recent arguments for clean diesel are raising questions over the validity of propane autogas as an outstanding choice for school buses. This type of over-simplified information is being widely broadcast. But comprehensive, evidence-based reasoning is what school districts require to make important decisions. School administrators need truth-telling, not storytelling.
In this 1-hour webinar, Ryan Zic presents on the benefits of running propane-powered school buses. He also discusses the partnership with Ford and Blue Bird that ROUSH CleanTech has formed and how it benefits every customer who purchases a propane school bus.
Sold a propane bus lately? Then you could be a winner! We held our second quarterly drawing for four $250 Visa gift cards. For those of you who sold a propane school bus this fiscal year, you’ve been entered to win quarterly prizes as well as the grand prize — a ROUSH Stage 3 Mustang valued at more than $60,000.
And the Q2 winners are…
WINNERS: Please reach out to your ROUSH CleanTech alternative fuel sales representative to claim your prize.
Not familiar with the contest? The grand prize is a ROUSH Stage 3 Mustang valued at more than $60,000. For every propane bus you sell starting on November 20, 2017, you automatically earn one entry to win. So far this fiscal year, over 700 propane school buses have been sold.
Remember that the more propane buses you sell, the more entries you gain, increasing your odds to take home this iconic muscle car. One salesperson entry will be chosen at random at the end of Blue Bird’s fiscal year 2018, and the lucky winner will take delivery of the Mustang at the 2018 annual dealer meeting.
We’re also offering giveaways throughout the year to reward your propane bus sales efforts. As previously mentioned, we’ll pick four winners each quarter to receive a $250 gift card.
Good luck, and let’s sell propane buses!
If you have any questions about the contest, please contact Ryan Zic at Ryan.Zic@roush.com.
It’s been a few months since the Environmental Mitigation Trust beneficiaries were approved. Most of these state beneficiaries are still developing their plans and are still accepting comments. We are getting down to the finish line for making the case for propane school bus funding. So, if you haven’t reached out to your representative, now is the time.
Here is a summary of the status of each state’s Beneficiary Mitigation Plan.
Five states have final plans:
19 states have draft plans:
28 states are still developing their plans and are accepting comments:
You can find a complete listing of each state’s lead agency, mitigation plan status and filing deadlines here. This document also contains the dates of upcoming public hearings and meetings.
If your state falls into either of the last two categories, please contact Chelsea Jenkins at Chelsea.Jenkins@roush.com to discuss how best to approach your state agencies. We don’t want to miss this opportunity to get more funding for propane school buses!
Rick Murphy at Wisconsin Bus Sales wanted to spread the news about one school district’s adoption of propane buses. Working with ROUSH CleanTech and Blue Bird media teams, Murphy provided the contacts and information they needed to write a press release and distribute it to the right sources.
Here is the newsworthy information that was included in the press release:
Over the past two years, North Crawford School District has added Blue Bird propane fueled school buses to its fleet. These buses lower the district’s carbon footprint while reducing transportation costs.
North Crawford School District pays $1.32 per gallon for propane compared with $3.10 for diesel.
Equipped with its exclusive Ford Motor Company’s 6.8L V10 engine, each Blue Bird Vision Propane school bus is powered by a ROUSH CleanTech propane fuel system. To help emissions, the propane engine is certified to California Air Resources Board’s strict low nitrogen oxide (NOx) level of 0.05 grams per brake horsepower – hour, making it 75 percent cleaner than the Environmental Protection Agency’s current emissions standard, and the cleanest propane school bus on the road.
The North Crawford buses, which run regular daily routes, have reduced nitrogen oxide emissions by almost 3,000 pounds and particulate matter by about 65 pounds each year compared with the diesel buses they replaced. Buses fueled by propane virtually eliminate particulate matter when compared with conventional diesel.
The district chose to install an onsite propane station to fuel the buses. The propane company supplied the tank and the school district paid for the cement slab and electrical hook-up. “The district spent a total of $8,000 in fueling infrastructure costs,” Andrews said. He reports that those costs have already been recouped through fuel and maintenance savings.
North Crawford plans to purchase additional propane-fueled bus in the near future.
Here’s a sample of the coverage gained by distributing a press release for this propane adoption:
If you have a notable and newsworthy propane bus deployment that you’d like to promote, please email Ryan Zic at Ryan.Zic@roush.com for more information.
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