DOE To Award Navistar Up To $10M to Support Plug-In Hybrid Electric School Buses

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected Navistar Corporation for negotiation of a cost-shared award of up to $10 million to develop, test, and deploy plug-in hybrid electric school buses.

DOE will provide up to $10 million over three years (50% of the project’s projected total cost), subject to annual appropriations. Development will include examining hybrid architectures to achieve a 40-mile electric range, evaluating advanced energy storage devices, and operating on an emissions compliant diesel engine capable of running on renewable fuels. The project plans to deploy 60 vehicles for a three-year period in fleets across the nation.

Navistar subsidiary IC Corporation — North America’s largest school bus manufacturer — has already introduced a hybrid school bus with a plug-in option. Dynamometer testing in 2008 showed that IC Bus school buses using post-transmission plug-in hybrid drive systems from Enova Systems can improve fuel efficiency by more than 70% compared to standard diesel-powered school buses.

The initial Enova Charge Depleting 25/80-kW hybrid-electric powertrains incorporate a 22.5 kWh lithium-ion battery pack.