Adomani EV school bus approved for use in California

Your children or grandchildren may very well be riding an electric bus to school soon, and probably sooner still if they live in California. We've just recently seen the funding of the National Strategies demo buses. Now another fully electric school bus has been approved in the Golden State. The California Highway Patrol has greenlighted the Adomani EV bus for use in the Gilroy Unified School District (GUSD).

Lucky pupils in the Garlic Capital of the World will be riding a 2007 Blue Bird All American school bus, converted from diesel to electric by Adomani. It has a range of 40 miles, plenty of charge to meet the route's 22 miles. The EV bus uses the same charging plug as the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt for easy charging. The GUSD has installed solar panels to power its charging station, making the Adomani Blue Bird truly capable of emission-free rides.

The bus was apparently quick to be approved upon inspection, with verbal approval coming just one day later. Newly appointed Adomani board member Jim Reynolds, a school bus industry expert, says, "That is by far the fastest I have seen approval come in. I was anticipating a few months of processing."

Adomani wants to convert more school and commercial buses, providing up to 100 miles of electric range, and says it can retrofit the vehicles in a matter of a couple weeks. The company, pleased with the swift turnaround of the Gilroy project, is moving its headquarters from Florida to California. Adomani founder and CTO says, "After the conversion for Gilroy, moving to California seemed like the right fit, though we plan to retrofit vehicles throughout the country." Learn more in the video below or over at Domestic Fuel.

Share This Photo X