We as observers have noted fuel consumption discussions ever since we owned our first coach. It was an 87 shell, 8V92, weighed 41,000 and over almost 15 years delivered a constant 5.6 MPG.
They call it the Superbus and it's designed to cruise at 250 km/h – that's 155 miles per hour. This is no dirty old diesel with a dog painted on the side. The Superbus is a sleek 15 metres long and has seating for 23 passengers.
It depends on the vehicle's gas tank size and fuel economy. If a school bus had an 80-gallon tank and operated with a fuel economy of about 6 miles per gallon, it could travel about 480 miles. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average school bus travels 12,000 miles per year 4.
An all diesel coach bus averages 2.5 mile to the gallon Metro Style Buses closer to 3.5mpg. A full size bus holds about 250 gallons of fuel. This make the range about 625 to 750mpg depending on the style of bus. The longest range electric bus made by Proterra was driven 1,101 miles on one charge.
Executive buses average 6 miles per gallon, especially when it comes to larger models that carry 45 to 51 passengers. Newer, high-tech models may get up to 10 to 12 miles per gallon. The larger the bus, the lower the average mileage.
There is no standard size tank. It could be anywhere from less than 30 gallons usable to over 200 gallons usable. It all depends upon what the original purchaser ordered from the factory.
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.
If a school bus had an 80-gallon tank and operated with a fuel economy of about 6 miles per gallon, it could travel about 480 miles. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average school bus travels 12,000 miles per year4.
A typical school bus burns approximately one-half gallon of diesel fuel for each hour it idles. Thus, if a company operates 50 buses and each bus reduces its idling time by 30 minutes per day, at $1per gallon of diesel fuel, the company would save $2,250 per school year in fuel costs.
My rule of thumb when I was shopping for a bus was a well maintained gas bus with under 100,000 miles or a well maintained diesel bus with under 200,000. In theory, a well maintained diesel engine can practically run forever. I drive city buses. They often have multiple million miles before they retire them.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average school bus travels 12,000 miles per year 4. At the average school bus mpg, that means a single school bus would use about 1,993 gallons of fuel annually.
The Volvo 9900, Volvo Buses' premium coach, received two prestigious awards at the international Busworld show in Brussels. Facing tough competition from eight rivals, the Volvo 9900 was voted both safest and best coach all categories in the Busworld Awards 2019 competition.