Tech in electric school bus impresses Naperville students
Naperville seventh-grader Deetya Singhal and her classmates thought the Navistar chargE electric school bus was pretty cool.
"It has USB ports to charge your phone and Wi-Fi," Deetya said, showing what it takes to impress a teenager.
But engineers from Lisle-based Navistar, not as easily amazed by basic technological bells and whistles, think the bus is pretty cool, too.
It runs on electricity, using four 650-volt batteries, and regenerates power every time it brakes, engineer Dean Opperman said Tuesday, as the bus visited students at Jefferson Junior High in Naperville Unit District 203 for technical demonstrations.
The chargE exudes zero carbon emissions and doesn't even have an engine under the hood. The motor, located below the passengers and visible through a viewing box like that in a glass-bottom boat, has plenty of power to drive a typical route to school on one charge.
The technology seems perfectly suited to school transportation, said Trish Reed, general manager and vice president of Navistar's IC Bus electric bus division.
Navistar finished development of the chargE bus and unveiled it last November. While the company hasn't put a price tag on the prototype yet, Reed said she expects electric bus technology to decrease in cost over time
The bus' batteries take 10 hours to charge to full capacity at a rate of 22 kilowatts per hour, Opperman said. On a full charge, a bus can easily travel the 40 to 60 miles each route to school typically encompasses. Buses also can get a partial charge during the roughly five hours in the middle of each school day when they're not required to be taking kids to class or back home.
Deetya asked whether an electric bus like the chargE would be a good option to take her class on a field trip.
Opperman let part of her question provide the answer, since she wondered aloud whether the bus could make it on one charge to and from a faraway destination, such as a Chicago museum.
The chargE likely wouldn't be the best fit for field trips, but Navistar is preparing for it to be a choice of the future for day-to-day school transportation, Reed said.
Districts could decide if they prefer an electric powertrain for buses because the system has fewer "moving parts," which Reed said adds up to a lower cost of ownership.
The chargE has been on tour in California and Washington state before stopping Tuesday in Naperville, close to its home in neighboring Lisle. The Naperville Education Foundation partnered with Navistar to help make the educational visit possible.
"Our mission is to encourage creativity and innovation," said Wendy Goettsch, executive director of the foundation. "This is just another way to showcase innovation to our students."