The electric school bus in Alaska also works at -38 ° c

When we talk about electric cars, we often hear that they are not suitable for colder climates, but in recent times we have been having several concrete proofs that prove the opposite: today we tell you the story of the electric school bus produced by Thomas Built Buses, which from last October it operates in the city of Tok, Alaska, where temperatures hit record lows.

The school bus costs about $ 400,000 and was purchased in collaboration between the Tok transportation company and the energy authority of Alaska, which supported the purchase of the bus and solar panels dedicated to its recharging. The idea of ​​charging a solar-powered bus in a place like Alaska makes you smile, but no one in those parts suffers from range anxiety: Thomas Built Buses' electric school bus can travel up to 255 km on a single charge. , but it drives around 50 per day so charging times are never a problem.

Gerald Blackard, one of the owners of the Tok transport company, always talks enthusiastically about this zero-emission school bus, and how we are proving much more capable than many expected.

“He has never skipped a day of school, and not even COVID has slowed him down. It could almost be said that it is COVID proof. Last January, on the 27th, we hit the temperature of -38 ° C and that day the energy efficiency of the bus was 3.46 kilowatts per mile, and in the best days of August and September the efficiency was between 1.4 and 1.7 kilowatts per mile. "

Despite this story that demonstrates how an electric bus can operate without difficulty even in the coldest climates, to date the Tok electric school bus remains the only one to operate in Alaska; who knows what stories like this, combined with the fact that the running costs of an electric bus are dramatically lower than those of a traditional bus, don't help to spread them more.