LP school bus stops in Hall Co. on first Ga. visit

GAINESVILLE - Hall County school officials Tuesday witnessed the first Georgia demonstration of a liquid propane bus at the system transportation center on Atlanta Highway.

Jewel Armour, Executive Director of Operations and Transportation, heard from Mike Perticone, Eastern Regional Manager of Clean Fuel USA, the company sponsoring the event.

Perticone said his company developed a fuel injection system for propane that makes it an efficient fuel for motor vehicles.

“We keep the propane in a liquid state right up until it's injected into the engine intake port, just like a gasoline system,” Perticone said. “The old vapor injected systems actually injected the propane as a vapor.”

Perticone added, “we feel it’s safer on the road than even a gasoline or diesel bus. It’s cleaner, it’s more efficient, it’s more powerful and the bottom line is it’s more simple."

With new emissions standards for diesel coming out next year LP powered buses are going to be within reach, according to Shooter Roberts with Yancy Bus Sales and Service from Macon.

“Compared to today’s prices this bus would be around $10,000 to $12,000 more a bus,” Roberts said. “In a year from now when diesel has to meet its new emission standards, its price is going to go up $10,000 a bus.”

Roberts added, “between now and next year, the difference between diesel and propane are going to come almost neck and neck.”

Armour said the school system is aggressively seeking alternative fuel sources to combat the trend of rising cost for diesel fuel, the primary source for most buses in the system.

“When diesel prices were at their peak we were paying over $4 a gallon, and what I’m told is LP fuel was selling in the $2 range,” Armour said.

“At that price and with the 50 cents a gallon rebate from Clean Fuel USA, we could save a lot of money in fuel costs. We possibly could save up to $3,000 per bus per year and that’s a huge savings for us.”

Armour said even though gas and diesel prices have dropped significantly in recent weeks, he’s still looking for sources of domestic fuels, which are in plentiful supply, such as liquid propane and natural gas.