# 1960 bluebird school bus ev??



## major (Apr 4, 2008)

Harrield said:


> I have this old bus in yard for years. Have allways wondered what it take to convert to ev?? What size motor, controler, how many batterys, trans,??


Hi Harri,

I worked on a couple of commercial sized HEVs. My guess is you'll need a motor in the range of 75 kW rated with peak of 150 kW or greater. And controller to match. You'll probably be up in the range of 1 to 2 Kwh per mile, so battery pack of 50 to 100 kWh. Prices for commercially available battery power options for shuttle buses (which are lighter than school buses) range in the $100k to $200k, not counting the basic bus.

So what would it take to convert an old school bus to EV? $$$$$$$$

Regards,

major


----------



## JRoque (Mar 9, 2010)

Hi. About 48, 130Ah, 12V deep cycle batteries will give you 75Kw for about $7,500. Add a TransWarp 11 motor and controller and you'll have the coolest bus *both* sides of the Mississippi. But you can probably get started with half the number of batteries and still move, some. The TransWarp motor is not cheap but it obviates the transmission so, with some handy welding work, you can drive the Cardan directly from the motor - no transmission, clutch or gears.

How big is that bus anyway? Got pictures?

JR


----------



## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

JRoque said:


> Hi. About 48, 130Ah, 12V deep cycle batteries will give you 75Kw for about $7,500. *Add a TransWarp 11 motor* and controller and you'll have the coolest bus *both* sides of the Mississippi. But you can probably get started with half the number of batteries and still move, some. The TransWarp motor is not cheap but it obviates the transmission so, with some handy welding work, you can drive the Cardan directly from the motor - no transmission, clutch or gears.
> 
> How big is that bus anyway? Got pictures?
> 
> JR


The TransWarP11 is a great motor, and it certainly has a nice peak power rating, but it cannot deliver anywhere near the continuous power needed to accelerate and propel a bus-sized vehicle at anything more than, say, 15-20mph. I'd say you will need at least _two_ 11" motors at a minimum, and maybe two 13's... those would better match the gear ratios of a transmission meant for diesels, too.


----------



## Harrield (Dec 3, 2008)

I was thinking maby a 9 or13 speed semi truck trans and 2 9-13 motors.
Bus is 30 passenger mid size chevy. batt storage is no problem.
range 20 miles during parades at mardie/gras season and others.
can tow to site. Have to be able to power music and pa for 3-4 hours.
weaght fully loaded peple, throws, drinks, eats, sound equepment, mabey 8-10 ton. 
would be way easer to go gas but that is not cooool!!!
if i 120v at 3-4 hundred ah how many batts would that be


----------



## major (Apr 4, 2008)

Harrield said:


> I was thinking maby a 9 or13 speed semi truck trans and 2 9-13 motors.
> Bus is 30 passenger mid size chevy. batt storage is no problem.
> range 20 miles during parades at mardie/gras season and others.
> can tow to site. Have to be able to power music and pa for 3-4 hours.
> ...


Ahhh, that's a different ball game. Might be able to do that with 2 or 3 forklift batteries and one 11 or 13 inch motor, with the right gearing.


----------



## Harrield (Dec 3, 2008)

i dont add very well 3-4 lines of 10 BIG truck batts for drive at 120v. i dont know mabey higher v might be better? and what about air or electric for breaks
and 3-4 lines of 10 at 120v with inverter for sound that part is easy.
what i cant is do i even need trans at 2.5-15 mph for 3-4 hours.
plusevery thing from my foot to motor is french to me?????
all help in planing stage and esplaing what go's where is helpfull.
can work on old cars easy but electronics i send somewhere else
 thanks for putting up with me


----------



## piotrsko (Dec 9, 2007)

if it is a 30 pass, it probably is a class 1 transport which means juice brakes are available, otherwise a small car tire compressor will suffice if you don't stop too much. I see 20 lb loss when I hit the brakes on my Bluebird, perhaps 5 less on the Thomas, both of which have about 3 gallon dual tanks.

low air at 60, pump kick in at 70 ish and pump stop at 125psi. probably 3-4 full stops before the low air comes on.

FYI they power these things with everything from a 350 CID gasser to a 7.3 liter international. depends on how fast they need to go uphill. so with the 5 speed auto, i guess a 13 KOSTOV would do just fine.


----------



## Harrield (Dec 3, 2008)

? kostov? juice=lectric rite? back in 80s bought from church they had bloed up 400 pont. rocket motor.we put in 327 chevy truck motor worked fine til katrena floded 3/4 way up the wheels now motor, wheels ,trans, rearend, bracks, are all locked up but body and frame are ok so going to have replace all rolling stock anyways why not go electric kind of 6 of 1 or half dozen of the other


----------



## procupine14 (Mar 17, 2010)

Harrield said:


> ? kostov?


That would be referring to the brand of electric motor.


----------

