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JUST IN: Blue Bird and Generate Capital Establish "Clean Bus Solutions," a Fleet Electrification-as-a-Service Joint Venture “We are excited to partner with Generate Capital to provide a market-leading fleet electrification-as-a-service offering. [...] School districts will also avoid the significant upfront costs and complexity of electrifying their school bus fleets while improving air quality for their students and communities.” - Phil Horlock, Blue Bird CEO Read more about the vertically-integrated joint venture to accelerate adoption of electric school buses: https://zurl.co/3SQ5

How a leading school bus company is taking the wheel to methodically electrify its fleet. The path to electrifying school buses is anything but direct. It’s NOT as simple as flipping a switch. In fact, electrifying a fleet requires several specialties. Discover how one school bus company found the right partner and set an example for others to follow. Read more. https://bit.ly/43KvGPj

We really do make anything move with electric, from large industrial cranes and boats, to miniature railways and leisure rides. Last month we had fun fitting our electric drive systems to the iconic Gus Hunnybun miniature train ride on Plymouth Hoe in Devon. The ride has been entertaining and carrying children for over 50 years, so the new upgrade to electric power had to incorporate the train's original features, whilst complying to the latest health and safety standard. Lynch electric systems are ultra safe, always within the ‘ultra-safe’ government guidelines and the EU low voltage directive. Being within 24v or 48v DC, makes it safe for customers to install and use our Lynch motors and systems. So the perfect choice for this project. Whilst just one of our motors has the power and torque to pull all 4 trains, for safety we have installed two, one at the front and one at the back. This gives the train an in-built redundancy, so one can pull and one can push and there is back up in the unlikely event that one fails. This is important for safety reasons, as well as to keep the ride going. You can read more about this story here: https://lnkd.in/eGz6Y6uE 

I am very pleased to see this class 230 delivering on the bold vision set for it, having been involved in a small way with this project over the years. It is of course a real piece of hardware that will hopefully start de-carbonising part of the network in the Thames Valley very soon. It may also not be the first battery train - indeed Drumm electric units ran successfully in Ireland for nearly twenty years from 1932. However, this news item did cause me to reflect on the legacy of Vivarail and how it achieved what it did. Whilst not a company without its problems and challenges, it did manage to deliver a lot at pace and display a lot ingenuity and flexibility in its lifetime. From developing a train platform that has now run with three different 'traction packages' to testing several iterations of batteries and then developing its own fast charging equipment - all of these requiring significant approvals and regulatory hurdles. However, whilst developing a technical concept and bringing it to reality is commendable, I think it deserves equal recognition for looking to the future and actually doing something about it when it did and creating itself a space in the market. Several of the larger manufacturers could have had a BEMU prototype running to Greenford in 2024, but they haven't. Vivarail put itself out there with a commendable level of self-belief and the knowledge that 'seeing is believing' in trying to make an affordable solution. From its first battery prototype outings in 2018 in Bo'ness, then demonstrating a battery unit on the world stage at COP26 in Glasgow, it set about carving out its own market for battery trains in the UK, the same as it had for hybrid units and niche DMU replacements before that. Was it the right product? Maybe, maybe not - we'll never really know. Had Vivarail survived, however I am sure we would seen the battery loco conversion prototypes by now that were being explored. In retrospect, much I admire about Vivarail boiled down to leadership, vision and self-belief -mostly enabled by having the right people. Whilst we can't all be Adrian Shooter (or even hope to come close), we can still and try and make good ideas happen and challenge ourselves to do things differently. Collectively this will surely make a difference and filter into our railway culture. In fairness GWR and no doubt others above it in the decision making chain should take some credit for pursuing this BEMU trial when it could have easily and conveniently ditched it and focussed on delivering the contractual targets. This humble 230 and its Ealing bay platform fast charging unit will undoubtedly yield some useful information for the UK railway. https://lnkd.in/epTZn6zp

Is Getting the Best Driveway Service in Sydney A Tough Task? To know whether getting the best driveway service in Sydney is a tough task or not, you should go through the points that are explained in detail in this blog. #drivewayservice https://lnkd.in/dEbzraSq

Key aspects in this quick read: electric school buses, emissions reduction, charging stations - From Building Operating Management and Facility Maintenance Decisions. Helping facility professionals with their jobs and careers.

ICYMI: We're making the Adelaide train fleet better

All government fleets everywhere should order EVs now, and sell their costly pollute-the-world vehicle fleets as soon as the EVs are in service. It will save human lives (just think of all the nasty exhaust smoke kids inhale on school busses…) and save money from Day 1. Not to mention being available as an asset to save the entire power grid from crashing (and get paid money for it) in the evenings during peak usage times.

Electric School Buses -- What are the best practices for expanding the equitable adoption? Hear from the experiences of stakeholders across the country at webinar on Feb 15. https://lnkd.in/g6aY83tx

🤩 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA isn't the only one looking at us right now, you can too. Here is the article in the October 2023 issue of School Bus Fleet Magazine about the Gardian Angel. 👏 We are also mentioned in several Federal footnotes, docket and images included in the reports of the Rochester, Indiana school bus crash, as well as the US. Federal Register regarding Reducing the Illegal Passing of School Buses. Promises made, are promises kept! A little Gardian Angel Trivia: This image is a Gardian Angel light on an Indiana School Bus (Marion Community Schools) which successfully field tested the Gardian Angel with positive results, BEFORE the unnecessary fatal Rochester, Indiana school bus crash occurred. Read via the National Transportation Safety Board: the Survival Factors Factual Attachment-IDOE Pilot Program-Gardian Angel Lighting System and Survival Factors Attachment - Interview with Director of Student Transportation IDOE here for more in depth: Link here - https://lnkd.in/gzge7xS9 Happy National School Bus Safety week, ya'll!! October 2023 issue of School Bus Fleet Magazine (page 2, as well as pages 26 and 27) https://lnkd.in/gMftuYjT https://lnkd.in/g_thDwGr