Comments about ‘University of Utah to launch electric bus prototype’

This is a great chance to test the different power systems, the electric charging plate while convenient might prove to be inefficient requiring an extended charging time over that of a straight forward power plug. My bet is that natural gas will be the winner.

A local bus company has developed a Hybrid Bus. It uses an on-board 2L diesel engine to charge the traction batteries. There is no reason you could not use a natural gas fueled engine. The bus has been running for 2 years and is being evaluated.

To "Allisdair" the electric bus, as they have outlined it would not need the diesel hybrid component. The idea here is to recharge the batteries at each bus stop. Theoretically you could make the bus lighter and more efficient this way because the batteries needed would not need to hold as much power as a hybrid car. These shuttles circle the campus and have less than a mile between stops.

The bus will suffer during the winter when you try and heat them, and again during the summer if you try and run the AC.

Another thing that is not factored in is the cost of maintenance. With an electric bus, you don't have as many parts to maintain.