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Ford reveals an electric school bus based on the E-Transit cargo van


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Time for Ford to team up with/buy Bluebird Bus and Ford/Bluebird would have an in-house capability to offer gas, diesel, propane and electric school buses. It would also increase sales to parents who would see the blue oval protecting and transporting their children!  International/IC and Freightliner/Thomas do not have that advantage because they really don't make International and Freightliner BRAND pickup trucks and SUV's.  Get it!?  It's called marketing!

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1 hour ago, Joe771476 said:

Time for Ford to team up with/buy Bluebird Bus and Ford/Bluebird would have an in-house capability to offer gas, diesel, propane and electric school buses. It would also increase sales to parents who would see the blue oval protecting and transporting their children!  International/IC and Freightliner/Thomas do not have that advantage because they really don't make International and Freightliner BRAND pickup trucks and SUV's.  Get it!?  It's called marketing!


Some buyers avoid minivans solely because image is not cool.  I’m not sure school buses would have a significant positive marketing affect for same reason.

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41 minutes ago, Rick73 said:

I’m not sure school buses would have a significant positive marketing affect for same reason.

 

Parents, policymakers, and others recognize the dangers posed to school age children by emissions from ICE powered school buses, especially diesel. Why We Need to Transition to Electric School Buses | Electric School Bus Initiative

 

A good marketing campaign for E-Transit school bus package could bring Ford a lot of positive impressions from a lot of people. 

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1 hour ago, rperez817 said:

A good marketing campaign for E-Transit school bus package could bring Ford a lot of positive impressions from a lot of people. 


I believe school buses for the most part are a great fit for electrification.  They are often driven at low speeds with lots of stops, routes are short and predictable, and there’s plenty of time for charging.  It may be because I’m not easily influenced by marketing, but I just can’t believe average car, SUV and pickup buyers care all that much about who makes school bus chassis.  On the flip side, a single bad accident could do a lot of damage to a brand, so there are unusual risks IMO.

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As long as the mining countries/owners don't withhold the lithium and the batteries for their own agenda!  All our eggs in one basket is not good.  How much lithium is in the ground?  The US Mint has been producing American Silver Eagles at 20 million per year since 1986 for about 35 years. Now you're lucky if they pump out half a million. Supposedly they can't acquire enough silver. According to a coin show TV host, silver demand is outpacing silver supply by 20 million ounces per month!  Supposedly we're going to run out of silver by 2035. What else are we going to run out of?  It won't last forever!

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19 hours ago, Joe771476 said:

As long as the mining countries/owners don't withhold the lithium and the batteries for their own agenda!  All our eggs in one basket is not good.  How much lithium is in the ground?  The US Mint has been producing American Silver Eagles at 20 million per year since 1986 for about 35 years. Now you're lucky if they pump out half a million. Supposedly they can't acquire enough silver. According to a coin show TV host, silver demand is outpacing silver supply by 20 million ounces per month!  Supposedly we're going to run out of silver by 2035. What else are we going to run out of?  It won't last forever!

 

Uh how is this any different then oil? There is lithium in the US that can be mined/accessed. Not to mention other materials being used to make batteries that will be easier to be sourced. 

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20 hours ago, silvrsvt said:

 

Uh how is this any different then oil? There is lithium in the US that can be mined/accessed. Not to mention other materials being used to make batteries that will be easier to be sourced. 

Sure, the U.S. has vast reserves of many EV-related minerals and metals but, like silver (the U.S. has the 8th largest silver reserves in the world), will the environmentalist left allow those reserves to be mined? So far they are still being successful in impeding domestic mining operations.

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1 hour ago, Gurgeh said:

Sure, the U.S. has vast reserves of many EV-related minerals and metals but, like silver (the U.S. has the 8th largest silver reserves in the world), will the environmentalist left allow those reserves to be mined? So far they are still being successful in impeding domestic mining operations.

 

Look at Fracking and what that is causing...crickets...if there is enough money behind it, it will happen. 

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1 hour ago, silvrsvt said:

 

Look at Fracking and what that is causing...crickets...if there is enough money behind it, it will happen. 


Isn’t fracking the lesser evil because it allows greater natural gas to replace coal in electricity generation?

 

Not defending fracking; I supported nuclear which stalled badly.

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1 hour ago, Rick73 said:


Isn’t fracking the lesser evil because it allows greater natural gas to replace coal in electricity generation?

 

Not defending fracking; I supported nuclear which stalled badly.

 

Your also extracting crude in some cases also, which was the point I was trying to make. 

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On 3/13/2023 at 6:26 AM, Joe771476 said:

As long as the mining countries/owners don't withhold the lithium and the batteries for their own agenda!  All our eggs in one basket is not good.  How much lithium is in the ground?  The US Mint has been producing American Silver Eagles at 20 million per year since 1986 for about 35 years. Now you're lucky if they pump out half a million. Supposedly they can't acquire enough silver. According to a coin show TV host, silver demand is outpacing silver supply by 20 million ounces per month!  Supposedly we're going to run out of silver by 2035. What else are we going to run out of?  It won't last forever!

Most of the processed Chinese lithium actually comes from Australia 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Quote

Time for Ford to team up with/buy Bluebird Bus and Ford/Bluebird would have an in-house capability to offer gas, diesel, propane and electric school buses. It would also increase sales to parents who would see the blue oval protecting and transporting their children!  International/IC and Freightliner/Thomas do not have that advantage because they really don't make International and Freightliner BRAND pickup trucks and SUV's.  Get it!?  It's called marketing!

There is competition among the school bus manufacturers and it is not certain that Ford has the best chance. Also parents don't have that kind of influence I think.

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  • 1 month later...

Ford participated in the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Anaheim, California last week, where they announced some more details about its E-Transit based school bus. Car and Driver had a great article summarizing both E-Transit based school bus as well as other manufacturers in the all-electric school bus market. You're About to See Way More Electric School Buses—Here's Why (caranddriver.com)

 

Highlights for E-Transit based school bus.

  • The electric bus starts life as an E-Transit T-350 chassis cab that uses a 125.0-kWh lithium-ion battery that provides around 120 miles of range
  • A 180-mile extended-range model will also be available
  • Ford's partner Collins installs its Type A School Bus Prep package onto the E-Transit's rails. The finished bus can carry up to 12 seated passengers, or eight with two wheelchairs, and includes a number of features found on standard school buses, like safety glass and a dual-note horn
  •  Pro Power Onboard, which can power electronic devices from the EV's battery, is a popular feature of the F-150 Lightning. It is not currently available to order on the bus, but Ford Pro brand manager for buses/vans Christian Kreipke said Ford is scrambling to get it implemented.
    • "The main [customer request] is to be able to have jacks so the kids can plug in their laptop, iPhone, or whatever. One of the ways you can achieve that is with Pro Power Onboard."

e-transit-school-bus-ntea-1-1-64554c12b3

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On 3/26/2023 at 1:29 PM, Donny said:

There is competition among the school bus manufacturers and it is not certain that Ford has the best chance. Also parents don't have that kind of influence I think.

 Most people aren't as automotively literate as we are on the forum. I bet if you asked the the parents what kind of bus picks up their kids, the majority would say,  "A yellow one" or "First Student," etc. I would think that residual sales of Ford's retail products resulting from school bus chassis' branding is pretty small. I believe (hope!) most people are paying more attention to the Safe Fleet® deployed stop arm than the name on the grille.

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58 minutes ago, Chrisgb said:

I bet if you asked the the parents what kind of bus picks up their kids, the majority would say,  "A yellow one" or "First Student," etc.

 

A lot of parents would also respond "a polluting one". As a result, there's a lot of parental support for the Electric School Bus Initiative mentioned earlier in this topic. Vendors involved in electric school buses, including Ford, have a great marketing and PR opportunity here to make a positive impression.

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13 hours ago, rperez817 said:

 You're About to See Way More Electric School Buses—Here's Why (caranddriver.com)

 

Highlights for E-Transit based school bus.

  •  The electric bus starts life as an E-Transit T-350 chassis cab that uses a 125.0-kWh lithium-ion battery that provides around 120 miles of range
  • A 180-mile extended-range model will also be available


Recent speculation or reports that Ford would soon announce a longer-range E-Transit is starting to look real.  To achieve the previously-mentioned 186 miles of range (300 kilometers), some suggested E-Transit would get the Mustang’s extended range 91 kWh battery pack, but that’s probably not enough capacity to increase range from 126 to 186 miles, given existing battery is 68 kWh.  Unless of course Ford increased energy efficiency significantly and that’s not likely.

 

https://fordauthority.com/2023/05/extended-range-ford-e-transit-to-be-revealed-next-week/

 

Mention above of 125 kWh would make battery capacity about the right size, given van would weigh more and therefore require more energy per mile.  Also, the maximum 126-mile range was for low-roof vans, so not applicable to many commercial applications.  If 125 kWh is correct, that would make range of a high-roof Transit more practical for Amazon and similar uses.  Ford may also be trying to remain competitive with new electric Sprinter.



 

Regarding Car and Driver article, the last paragraph on funding of electric school buses implies that when tax payers pay for nearly half the cost, then electric school buses are a bargain, as if government money grows on trees.  In my opinion future success of BEVs depends on being cost competitive, and this mindset doesn’t help.  In some ways it’s counterproductive because it justifies opposition to BEVs in general.

 

" If you can get $60,000 for this bus, for example, in California, and another $40,000 from the IRA, you're looking at $100,000 off a $225,000 bus," he said. "You can get down pretty close to price parity just with those two things. And there's no shortage of any of that money."

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