LI school district testing all-electric bus

The little yellow school bus breezed up and down the back hills of Plainview earlier this week. Quietly. It's not just that there were no kids on board. It was that the bus was powered by an electric motor, not a piston-engine that uses gas.

The Plainview-Old Bethpage school district, like virtually all other districts on Long Island, is trying to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel. Plainview-Old Bethpage is considering using the 42-seat eTrans bus, manufactured by Trans Tech Bus in Warwick, N.Y.

Trans Tech unveiled the sleek-looking buses powered by two 278-volt lithium-ion batteries in October at the National Association for Pupil Transportation's annual conference in Cincinnati.

Trans Tech says on its website it will launch a pilot program this year to allow a "select group" of customers to use the eTrans bus before full-scale production begins in mid-to-late 2012.

In Plainview the bus chugged up hills but made little noise and emitted no fumes.

It is likely the Plainview-Old Bethpage district will be using several eTrans buses next fall, said Bart D. Marksohn, chairman of Plainview-based We Transport, a regional school bus company that serves the district. But the school board must approve such a move, said Ryan Ruf, district assistant superintendent for business.

If the board grants approval, Marksohn said, he believes the district would be among the first in the country to use the all-electric bus.

The eTrans bus travels about 100 to 130 miles on a charge and can reach speeds up to 60 mph. Its Smith Electric engine takes six to 10 hours to fully recharge. "We want to phase out the fossil-fuel buses," said Nadine Eiring, district director of transportation.