Diesel powers over 90% of all school buses thanks to its combination of fuel safety, energy efficiency, reliability, durability, established fueling and maintenance network, range and operational flexibility, secondary markets and low acquisition and operating costs.
The Blue Bird school bus manufacturer has committed its lineup of yellow young human-haulers to a new engine: the 7.3-liter gasoline V8 found in the 2021 Ford Super Duty. That's more displacement than the outgoing model, but it's the finer details that should help keep these new buses running for generations to come.
Over the long haul, newer diesel engines will last 15-20 years in a fleet, while a gasoline engine may need to be replaced once or even twice during the life of a school bus. “All of these are important for fleet managers to stop and consider when choosing a new school bus,” says Hedgecock.
Matter of fact, turbos have widely been used on diesel engines for a while now. Especially to improve power output while sticking to lower displacements. This includes buses and trucks as well.
The power to weight ratio of a car is usually more than a bus. Hence a car has more speed because of less weight while the bus has less speed due to more weight. Moreover buses require more torque and power is not dominant. However in a car as load is less,a significant amount of torque is sufficient to carry the load.
On average, a clean-diesel school bus can travel about 510 miles on a tank of diesel vs. only 270 miles on gasoline, based on the same standard-sized fuel tanks. Newer engines, like the Detroit™ DD5™ and DD8™ diesel engines, show an additional three percent increase in fuel efficiency.
The 12-volt rating of a battery is the nominal voltage and it may be slightly higher or lower depending on the state of charge and loads. We sometimes use 24V battery systems in larger trucks and busses due to the vehicle's higher power needs and long cable runs.