The IC Bus ChargE electric school bus might be our new favorite
Electric buses are great, but there's something about electric school buses that tickles the same part of the brain that loves trains, construction equipment and happy dogs. We've enjoyed the different iterations that have been popping up overthepastfewyears. In fact, we even have a favorite: the eLion from Lion Bus. We'll admit, though, that the new ChargE electric school bus from IC Bus has our eyes wandering and our hearts aflutter.
The ChargE is a concept EV bus based on the CE Series school bus from IC Bus, based in Lisle, Ill. It's the result of a partnership with Volkswagen Truck & Bus, which supplied the electric powertrain. It's capable of more than 120 miles of driving range on a single charge, and offers 260 kilowatts (349 horsepower). There aren't a lot of specs or details available, but IC Bus says the ChargE "can be built to address any school bus customer's specific requirements."
"Our electric school bus is another example of how IC Bus is driving the future of school bus transportation by providing a wide range of powertrain solutions, including electric propulsion, propane, gasoline and diesel," said IC Bus Vice President and General Manager Trish Reed. She added, "As battery technology evolves, we continue to explore a variety of electric technologies to meet our customers' needs in the final design of the CE Series electric-powered school bus."
We'd expect the name of the school or district to go on the side of the ChargE electric bus in typical black lettering, but we hope that customers would choose to keep that rad blue graphic on the side of it. It looks good against the classic yellow paint.
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The IC Bus ChargE electric school bus might be our new favorite originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 17:14:00 EST.
