Test driving an ALL-ELECTRIC, EV bus at ABC in Orlando, Florida.

[@railvlogger1439]

What a top bloke Roman Cornell is. I can feel the passion he has for buses. Great video.

[@tellit4678]

Thanks for the heart I'm looking at your video 5 am of you testing ABC bus now❤️🤩🙏

[@12review96]

Good to see a realistic and measured approach to EV in the industry! A ton of good information in this one.

[@TylerNally]

James, ABC seems to be a fabulous group. They treated you like motorcoach royalty. Looks like you had a great time. Bravo!

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Thank you Tyler. They were absolutely wonderful group of people that really took care of me.. I enjoyed my tour of ABC

[@fitnesswithsteve]

James IS motorcoach royalty!

[@raphaeld307]

@@MotorcoachWorld Looks like it was easy as 1 2 3.

[@tk9839]

@@raphaeld307 lol!

[@itsacrazyasian]

I've been modernizing the fleet for a university and these guys are top notch. Bought a turtle top from them and trying to pick up another ev bus they have.

[@Kevinskywest1]

Great to see a real motorcoach driver, not a salesman behind the wheel

[@tk9839]

ABC is truly an impressive facility with a great group of ppl working there...I bet their company parties are a blast. Looks like you made some new friends in the bus world. This is one of my favorite videos of yours, thanks!

[@KennethCournean]

Roman, glad to see you're still going at it strong. Great presentation - Your Dad, Uncle and Grandfather would be very proud !

[@ingodwetrustdellaware-inc8322]

Congratulations to ABC. AMERICA 🇺🇸 BUS 🚌 CRAFTED Great to seen Roman Praise his Grandfather 👴 He must be looking so Proud of him

[@michaelgreen6268]

James, Great Tour of ABC, been there many times to pick up parts for the Company I drove Busses for ESCOT, Thank You so much, really enjoy your Blogs, brings back great memories!!!

[@damon2364]

Great video James. Lots of good info and honesty from ABC.

[@craigslistbuslistingsofnor6494]

World class operation. Thanks James!!!

[@rickfine9219]

James, I love your videos. Just enjoyed the ABC Bus special video. Just a note....back in 1969-70 Clancy Cornell was my bus driver when I attended St James School in Faribault MN. The forerunner to ABC was Faribo Bus Lines, so it was cool to see the our founder "Clancy" plaque at the beginning of the video. Keep up the good work.

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Wow that is awesome! You got to meet him in person! What an honor

[@adamfischer6768]

Fascinating video and peak Into the future of bussing and what challenges are ahead. Kudos for ABC rolling out the red carpet for you and providing you with an enterouge of knowledgeable and accommodating staff.

[@vincenthprice2260]

Wow really blowed away and Impressed with the bus facility ABC with different types of buses and electrical Technology powering the future of EV buses so impressed keep the videos coming as you if I’m watching your channel then I’m a bus geek

[@coreybabcock2023]

James your editing is superb and glad to meet you Tues morning and tour the facility you run a awesome operation and glad to meet your staff too seems like everyone has a team effort mentality and approach and makes things run smoothly thanks for all you did hope to meet you again and take you up on that gig you told me about

[@michelhulsebos4580]

Maybe your best video yet. Loved it!

[@---l---]

Solid intro. Appreciate you. Love that you took the time to meet and introduce the staff. Solid dad jokes

[@---l---]

So... Next time, Drag Race?

[@PremierAutoMan86]

This was awesome! Many thanks for this.

[@curtismackjr.6108]

What a well produced video…and I have a newfound respect for the ABC family l

[@brewmasuisui2216]

Mr.Cornel and crew doing a superb job. Another great and informative video James much mahalos 🤙🏽

[@stevepackard8542]

ABC- Always Be Charging! Sorry, I had to get that in!

[@travisspiva]

Very interesting! What an awesome opportunity James!

[@larryreynolds8580]

This was fantastic and amazing James, thank you!

[@gregoryrobinson161]

Another great video...... Thanks james!!

[@bicyclerider8218]

Spectacular, a wonderful and informative video. Thank you for sharing.

[@oscarsalazar4063]

Very informative video, thanks motor coach world. Awesome company.

[@MarkRDKing]

I see batteries becoming more efficient and smaller before I see hydrogen becoming the new power generator. It is all going in the right direction. Fantastic video James!!

[@austinlawler3739]

True, but hydrogen is very far along. Example Toyota has been working on hydrogen powered cars for years, and there are already hydrogen stations in the US and Canada. I don't think the leap is that big, or that far down the road. But yes, batteries will get smaller and more efficient eventually. The biggest issue is every video James has shown with electric buses is the batteries and other components are made by ABB. A conglomerate, but there has to be a big upside for them to push this technology on buses or trucks. So it could take longer, only time will tell.

[@davefroman4700]

@@austinlawler3739 The issue is the cost of the fuel cells and the infrastructure to support it. Fuel cells, can never be cheap. They have a lot of platinum in them. And the process is horribly inefficient. You need three times the electricity to make enough H2 to drive a vehicle ten miles, than the same vehicle operating on batteries will use. Max efficiency for a fuel cell vehicle is less than 30%. Equivalent to a regular vehicle. Where as a BEV is 90%-95% efficiency. And while you can install charging just about anywhere in a day or two for a very modest amount, A hydrogen station takes months to build and certify because hydrogen is a fugitive molecule. Its the smallest in the world. Which means is VERY hard to contain it. Which means very expensive infrastructure.

[@grasscutter1963]

WOW! Is the first word that comes out of my mouth while watching this. What a facility ….. I love learning all about this bus stuff LOL. I thoroughly enjoy watching these, but I also would like to see some more new videos for newbies Everything from supplies you put in totes or wherever for trips, shoes you might wear that’s comfortable that allows you no slippage when handling all that luggage to just the basic essentials that you would use for going out on the road.. just keep thinking NEWBIE. Things you take for granted might be very useful for us newbie’s. Appreciate ya so much James. I know your a very busy man, but if you could compile a video or two covering these things would be very grateful ✌️out.

[@kc2dc444]

Wow, what a well run company where the employees really care and take pride! Such a cool tour! I see a DC Circulator Bus there. Seems far from DC, but that shows how unique this place is.

[@Skullitor]

James, Another fantastic video. Very informative.

[@sixpackmrttomskinner8792]

Great insight to E-buse's and agree hydrogen Engine added will make the difference years ago I drove a prototype van type bus that had a small 2cl engine that provides generator power to run the electrical..

[@sgav8r]

What a bunch of super nice people. The vibe there really comes thru in this video!

[@stevenkirk9208]

Excellent video!!! Please do more maintenance facilities.....

[@offrails]

I would imagine that the next stage would be pure "ground-up" electric buses that are designed to be electric from the beginning, rather than as a retrofit of an existing chassis and sacrificing the luggage compartment. I live in a city that recently acquired a couple of electric buses and aside from some extra components on the roof, they are essentially just a Gillig Low Floor transit bus. Tesla designs its cars with the battery pack at the base of the vehicle, resulting in a low center of gravity, and if adapted for a bus design, it could result in a huge safety benefit. Very fascinating otherwise - though I do not have a need to own bus (or even a place to park one, though it would be cool to haul friends around in), I recently bought a Model 3 and would not want to go back to an ICE vehicle.

[@americanrambler4972]

The electric bus was cool. The video tour of the electric bus and it’s drive train was very informative. The quietness of the bus is fantastic! You don’t realize just how noisy a diesel motor coach bus is until it isn’t. I was amused at how the lack of noise in the electric bus initially messed with your actual driving of the bus initially. But I bet you , your drivers and all the passengers can get used to that quietness and lack of noise real fast. The EV installation on that bus was optimized for access, not space efficiency. Which at this point in time is a high and cost effective strategy. Over time once the bus world gets used to using EV buses, the packaging of the electric bus driveline and component infrastructure will improve radically. Right now, everyone is noticing the space the batteries and their control hardware takes up in the luggage bays. But as you see, the footprint of the motor takes up only a fraction of the space the Diesel engine and transmission does. There is a lot of real estate taken up by the diesels cooling system, exhaust system emissions system, fuel, coolant, oil tanks and its associated components which has yet to be recovered and repurposed. Once the electrical systems start getting sorted out and evolve and are redesigned to actually fit a bus vs just adapted to fit wherever they can, a lot of that space will return and maybe at the end of the day, the electric drivetrains may actually require only 80% to 60% of the space a diesel installation does. The commercial large vehicle charging network is in its early days of rollout. It will definitely improve, and quite rapidly to. Remember, a large portion of the commercial large vehicle diesel fleet refuels at its home terminal locations. And that is all but invisible to the general public. So the same will be with commercial EV’s. While cross country or long distance bus and truck travel may remain the realm of the diesel for some time, my opinion is urban short distance truck and bus operators will rapidly adopt and change to electrical vehicles as they become price and operational cost competitive with diesel. And the regulatory environment is also driving that adoption rate.

[@PremiumFuelOnly]

Sorry, I prefer my turbo diesel music.

[@americanrambler4972]

@@PremiumFuelOnly Yes, there are certain gas and diesel vehicle engine drive lines which are music to my ears and very enjoyable to feel and experience. Like old school V8 motors in 50’s through 70’s cars, the growl and scream of those old 2 stroke Detroit diesels, the smooth purr of a good running straight six or old straight eight motor. The. Sound of a v twin Harley Davidson motorcycle engine.

[@williamd7823]

Great documentary. I drive by this facility nearly every day. I didn't know the extent of their business. The electric bug is also catching the Bus world and commercial trucks. Aircraft, too. It's going to take a while for the inftastructure to catch up...eventually it will. Keep up the good work.

[@bystanderbutch3509]

These guys are great. Our company would send us here when something new came out to keep up with the latest technology. If you needed schematics for any bus, they would give it to you free of charge. They would feed you too. Of course we bought most of our buses from them and a whole lot of parts.

[@_Jin_Kim_]

Bravo. Really enjoyed this episode!

[@TellurideS13]

5:33 Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church! That's the church I used to attend. Groveland!

[@KamranNamdarpour]

Wow! What an interesting video!!! Thank you!

[@HankSnowgrandslamfishing]

You were just up the street from my base. Shame I didn't know you were here would have loved to meet you. take care

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Hey Hank! This wont be my last time visiting ABC. Now that I know you are just down the street, I will hit you up next time I'm in the area!

[@HankSnowgrandslamfishing]

@@MotorcoachWorld That would be awesome. I work for Mears Transportation and saw some of our buses up there at ABC. I have picked up a bus or two from there as well. Just let me know when and I'll be happy to meet you Sir.

[@flh5959]

When I drove back in the day, I had been to the ABC facility in the Los Angeles area. I thought that was big but wow, this is the headquarter huh? It dwarfs the LA one.

[@FaresDjebbar]

Always nice to see people who are passionate about their business, they remind me of my old workplace! Thank you for the good content James.

[@stephenlevan6676]

Epic episode James!

[@howardreid6996]

Hi James , I was looking forward for you test driving EV Motor Coach , and telling us your experience on maneuvering on the interstate ..wow. I enjoy your information videos. Thanks Howard R. ( Driver Hampton Jitney LI. N.Y. IMG.)

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Stay tuned for more

[@alblua]

I really enjoyed hearing Roman's perspective on electric; it's a very honest, realistic, but optimistic view on electric power in the bus industry. Definitely can't wait to see if hydrogen technology becomes more prevalent in the bus industry!

[@southaussiegarbo2054]

South australia runs some busses on natural gas(some of which is hydrogen)

[@shezadshah3740]

Wouldn’t a 50kwh charger charge a 600 kWh bus in 12 hours? If it was only 3 hours that would be quite great tbh. We need more of those special chargers they have down there!

[@cullenevanhall]

@@shezadshah3740 I just made the same comment. Math error there.

[@phillipgreene6325]

Best video I've seen. I'm a bus head myself hope to own one very soon

[@stevenclark3608]

Great video. We are not there with electric technology just yet but it is not that far over the horizon. Thanks for the tour and keeping us informed.

[@shadow211e]

Got to make my first trip to ABC to get a new bus, it’s a lot of fun

[@Vector_QF8]

Wow, Disney land for Bus Geeks! ABC is amazing. Super hosts🎉. Great Culture❤ James, you were in a good place😊

[@berylwhite2983]

Very professional great video 👍 congratulations to ABC they look like a super company

[@vilenius187]

Such a good mood video! Great job!

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Thank you!

[@patrickpepper2490]

You were heading toward Clermont on your drive. Really nice town! If you ever move to Florida I highly recommend Clermont for living.

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Hi Patrick. Thanks I'll keep that in mind. I really like it down there.

[@Rheilffordd]

I’ve just finished watching this, I was expecting to see a review on an electric Motorcoach, but got a lot more with your tour of ABC in Florida! Wow what a great bunch of guys and girls serving your industry! Great video, your content is simply getting better and better!

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Hey Maika. Thank you sir I appreciate it. Don't worry there will be a more thorough review of the all electric bus and one of the following videos. I definitely wanted to show off ABC as much as I could in this one

[@andyfashant4677]

James, where is the point in this great video where you ask ABC Bus about a redesign/retrofit of the Van Hool toilet for all the splatter and mess??? LOL. Now that I am doing some driving for an all Van Hool operator, I have to say you are right on target about the Van Hool toilet issues. Great video--hats off to ABC Bus, proud that their origins trace back here to Minnesota.

[@MotorcoachWorld]

LOL I Actually did ask Roman, the President of the company that question. And I have it on camera LOL. dont Worry. I got so much content from my trip to ABC I will be putting out several more videos on this topic... And I will play the footage of what Roman said about the toilets on the Van Hool. Stay tuned!

[@robertfinley6288]

An excellent video ABC is a very large and can do it all operation. Electric car, truck and transit bud batteries have caught on fire do the electric buses have a fire suppression system.

[@dougwoodie6675]

Great Job James and ABC. If you really want to have your mind blown visit the Vanhool factory in Belgium.

[@roodick85]

Now this is what I'm talking about! Recycle everything you can 👊🏾

[@BusDriverLife]

Really cool video!! Looks like an awesome experience!

[@alexmoran1243]

Definitely, a neat experience…I have to say, I had the same shock factor when I first drove a Tesla…I just so used to a startup and some sort of rumble…LOL…Seemed like if the key was on, but the vehicle was not yet started…LOL…But it was ready to be put into gear and drive…I wanted to ask…What about the air compressor system and air dryer purging and all that good stuff…I mean the air compressor functions through the start of a Diesel engine…Where does the air compressor connect to on the EV ? You know to supply to the air tanks ?

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Hey Alex great question! Thanks for the Post. So I got so much footage from this trip I couldn't fit it all into one video. Stay tuned for the next video. Their head EV mechanic goes through the entire bus and explains how everything works.

[@alexmoran1243]

@@MotorcoachWorld Great…I’ll stay tuned…I’m sure you were excited about the experience altogether…Great coverage…And neat to know that ABC Companies (Winter Garden, FL) are so diverse when it comes to there services on coach buses and not staying stuck strictly on Van Hool…

[@captain.john.]

Very cool! We're getting electric busses soon. Very exciting.

[@FaresDjebbar]

EV tech is good, and I'm happy that everyone is embracing it.

[@stevepackard8542]

If you're in a cold weather climate, the heater takes 25% off the battery power!

[@josephheston9238]

@@stevepackard8542 Well if these EV buses took a page out of the PCC streetcar, they would use the dynamic braking for heat.

[@HenryLoenwind]

@@stevepackard8542 If you're in a warm climate, 100% of the heat from diesel combustion is vented out as waste.

[@disneyfan9099]

Welcome to Orlando! This was great video to see and getting to see some local buses in for service. Kinda sad that you had to blur out the Disney world buses lol.

[@jaeshotz]

This was an excellent video, great job!

[@joeschramer2500]

ABC is our dealer. You probably saw a bunch of coaches with my employers name all over them. Yep i saw a bunch of them on your tour.

[@Telcom100]

Great video. At 6:35, using the rule of thumb for 50kw charging a 600kwh battery, it would be more like 12 hours, not 3 hours. At 6:26, the charger display shows 74kwh added in an hour and 53 minutes.

[@AntonAtan]

Also charging from 90 to 100% takes much longer than 10 to 20%.

[@HenryLoenwind]

@@AntonAtan Not on that low a charging current. For that 600kWh battery, the 50 kW charge is not even 0.09C---the battery would limit to that above about 99%. Between 20 and 80%, they can easily take 3 or 4C. That little charging station is for a bus what the mobile charger you plug into a normal wall socket is for a car. (C is the factor between charging power in kW and capacity in kWh, so charging a 600 kWh batter in 1 hour would be 1C, in 2 hours would be 2C, in half an hour would be 2C, etc.)

[@AntonAtan]

@HenryLoenwind idk about 1 2 or 3C but I'm talking out of my experience driving electric bus from Ohio to Chicago we didn't wait to charge it completely to 100% because it was taking forever.

[@HenryLoenwind]

@@AntonAtan If you noticed a slowdown, then you weren't using a massively undersized charger.

[@actemple3282]

Gorgeous busses

[@charlescorey184]

Fabulous and informative video James. I loved it and do not even work in the bus industry.

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Thanks for the kind words Charles. Much appreciated.

[@richardwilson6787]

Hey James, this is a REALLY interesting video, thanks for taking the time to make it and share it with us!

[@jasonminier6782]

Great video. I hope you do one on that double decker.

[@MotorcoachWorld]

There will definitely be a review on the double-decker LOL stay tuned

[@Maunico0809]

Nice!

[@jameskerner7782]

Very interesting! I hope to see some EV buses running in the NJ, NY areas.

[@coreybabcock2023]

Roman is definitely right James is a good guy I personally can say that about him

[@rogerr.7228]

Last Saturday I just rode onboard the same Van Hool t2140 I rode at end of July, too and from a Special Olympics flag football competition. The company this coach is owned by is a small company called Progressive Travel, based in Spencer, WI. All of their motorcoach fleet are strictly Van Hool. Mostly t2145 and t2140, but they also have a Tx45 and a Cx35 as well. This isn't all motorcoach transportation. They also have some Ford Transit mini shuttle buses and many Bluebird flat nose school buses. The school buses are owned by the same people but have different company name. The motorcoaches and mini shuttles are Progressive Travel and the school buses say Burnett Transit on them. I have no idea why that is they have two different names so don't ask me as I'm not the right person lol

[@davidp2888]

Good stuff! I rode in a Van Hool coach last week and sat in the front passenger seat. Every time we went over a bump it was brutal. The whole front of the bus felt like it dipped, probably because we were sitting in front of the wheels.

[@FaresDjebbar]

Possibly the shocks are bad, or the airbag sensors aren't working ( the airbags aren't getting enough air ), when in good working conditions, the Vanhools IMO have the best suspension in the motorcoach world.

[@Smidge204]

If you want truck/large vehicle friendly charging stations to be part of the federally-funded charge station buildout, lobby your state transportation department. The design and layout of these stations are the responsibility of the states, and they'll probably hand it off to private consultants for the actual layout, so you need to put pressure on the state to include accommodations for larger vehicles in the requirements.

[@marvinjgerald6007]

Wow, even ABC has recognized your world class cosmopolitanism. Good for both them and yourself obviously. Mark my words because this is just the beginning of many more consultations of your services Mr. James Wang. We’re proud of you from Minnesota -keep up the quality and pertinent content, while continuing to dream big.👍🏾

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Thank you so much Marvin! I was so surprised and honored when ABC invited me to their facility. I appreciate the support and the kind words.

[@davefroman4700]

The issue with the vanhool is they are taking an existing product and cramming batteries into it. Instead of going with a skateboard design. A better packaged design would have a substantial impact on the amount of batteries that can be placed, without greatly impacting storage. And it would probably improve the handling by having all the mass spread out.

[@mfbfreak]

Yes, but imagine the investment in developing a completely new chassis. I'm sure they will eventually do that, but for now it's a smart approach to use some conventional buses as a test bed. First figure out exactly how much battery capacity and motor power you need, and how that can be used by the customer - the situation they have right now. Once you know what it can do with which equipment, you can start designing a purpose-designed EV frame. But with that comes a lot of regulatory hoops you have to jump through, a lot of engineering cost etc. So you have to make absolutely sure that you can recoup all that engineering investment, and do market research. As for what packaging would make sense - i'd do it like the DB did it with their 1960s battery electric rail buses (ETA 150). The batteries were slung under the frame, and could easily be taken out with a forklift in minutes. Those rail buses were used all the way from the 60s till the 90s.

[@davefroman4700]

@@mfbfreak They either disrupt themselves, or someone else will. 99% of all the business models in history have failed to survive technology disruptions. All it will take is for BYD to come out with a long range coach with a 450wh/kg battery and a battery swap system (several in development at the company are already passing that density) and they will corner the market. The cost of operating an EV coach will be 1/4 the cost of a diesel coach. We are already seeing that play out in the transit sector.

[@balbaro83]

Awesome!!!

[@PremiumFuelOnly]

Good video, but they didnt mention the HVAC system. Is it a special Compressor ran by the High Voltage side?

[@MotorcoachWorld]

I will explain all that in the next video. Stay tuned ☺️

[@AntonAtan]

In case you are driving back to Chicago from Florida you should visit MCI's parts wearhouse in Louisville KY. It is huge and also used as training facility for technicians. MCI's repair shop in Des Plaines does everything ABC showed you. Ask them if you can do a video there next time you stop by.

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Sounds like fun! Maybe MCI will reach out to me and invite me as ABC did 😉.

[@rodneystewart8958]

I'm sure this video made ABC some extra customers

[@patrickpepper2490]

Winter Garden to be exact. I used to run off that lot.

[@roodick85]

200 miles of range is wild!! In the city that'll take forever to run down

[@chaoszombie9995]

I really think the best thing for the bus industry is hybridization, it’s the best of both worlds 🤷‍♂️ and I’m a HUGE electric vehicle guy so that’s saying a lot 😅

[@poincareconjecture5651]

Lucky you James

[@Metronome_Heart]

Gotta love the blurred out Disney Gillig @ 10:21 😂

[@terawattz]

i am a uk coach motorcach driver,i found this very interesting

[@OceanChannelProductions]

hello again, finally came back to the channel after a year. I just herd of trailer buses, will you talk about them?

[@MotorcoachWorld]

Welcome back. I haven't heard anything about them .. I'll look into it

[@southaussiegarbo2054]

The ev motor would be between 1125 and 1130 bc of pallet weight of about 33pounds(or 15kg)

[@mikeschulte4271]

Sounds like a good idea but their is no luggage storage it looked like. And when the batteries go bad in a few years r they recycled or trash? It seems like a good idea but their is some quirks they need to work out still it seems like it

[@chaoszombie9995]

Most batteries are indeed recycled into things like AA batteries and the battery for a power tool!

[@cullenevanhall]

I think Roman got his math wrong on the charging time on the 50kw charger, a 676 kwh battery would take 13.5 hours to charge not 3.

[@Yellwolf]

Excellent Trains are electric so the future is solid.

[@RipRoaringGarage]

Ha that red Mustang passing you ...that made me laugh.

[@rupertbare2023]

Fascinating video. What a great outfit ABC seems to be. Is there anything they can't handle? (Rhetorical question). 👍

[@ultimatem9178]

This is a really great video. It felt like I was back in school. That was some very informative info on the power grid. How do these E-buses compare in weight to diesel powered buses? Also, I can't help but think the ability to drive an E-bus through snow has been severely compromised.

[@EpicThe112]

I wonder if these Buses have enough range to do 100-200 miles. If NJ Transit decided to order them these buses must be able to do a 130 mi 210 km 319 bus NYC-Atlantic City trip

[@Nakedbilove408]

I love diesel buses, 💞💓

[@stevecooper6311]

Great video🎉

[@CaptainJohnmaddux]

I really really enjoyed this video James thanks for sharing and maybe you could leave the companies website and the link would love to get in touch with them here in Kansas City school bus driver trainer Sailing Instructor video editor from Kansas City that used to be a yellow cab driver that used to be a limo driver job

[@meme-ek2rf]

Sweet Bus