Roush Industries always has been racing to market, literally and figuratively. The company’s fuel systems for school buses are no exception.
Inspired by speed and power, automotive legend Jack Roush launched an engineering and product development company that has showcased his name for four decades. Top performance — demonstrated by ancillary Roush Fenway Racing and NASCAR ventures — is a signature characteristic that flows from the top down at this private corporation in Metro Detroit, where School Transportation News recently visited.
On this growing campus, ROUSH CleanTech has taken pole position in expanding alternative fuels, especially propane autogas technology for light- and medium-duty Ford commercial vehicles, as well as Type A Micro Bird and Type C Blue Bird school buses.
In July, the team has been running several laps to the finishing line. They are at the peak of school bus production, as well as launching the Gen 4 Propane Autogas Fuel System, a gasoline system, a new system for the CNG-Powered Blue Bird Vision, and a new customer service organization for expanding alternative fuel technology to worldwide fleets. The company also is making a big footprint at the STN EXPO in Reno, supporting Blue Bird as a co-sponsor of a July 26 keynote for attendees and at the OEM’s trade show booth on the following day.
Jack Roush is a legend on the track with top-performing NASCAR teams. He put his motorsports expertise into creating fuel systems to reduce harmful emissions. In Metro Detroit, the public can visit the Roush Automotive Collection, a private facility that displays 110+ vehicles dedicated to the preservation of Roush Enterprises. On display are rows of race cars, trophies, team equipment, and photographs representing 40 years of achievement.
The school transportation industry will be seeing a lot more of the ROUSH CleanTech team, as they travel next to trade shows, conferences and U.S./Canadian dealerships for training.
“We’re making a commitment and a plan to get there,” said Brian Carney, executive director of School Bus Sales and Customer Support at ROUSH CleanTech.
Incubation for School Transportation
The company couldn’t have arrived where it is today without a worldwide urgency to wean off fossil fuels.
Carney was part of the six-person entrepreneurial team that launched ROUSH CleanTech out of a conference room, just as public and private groups planted seed money to incentivize propane autogas for different automotive niches.
The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) arrived in 1996 with a mission to fund research, development, commercialization, and safety efforts for a new preferred energy source. Ten years later with PERC as a partner, ROUSH Performance developed a propane fuel conversion system, which led to the release of the 2008 ROUSH propane autogas Ford F-150 truck.
The ROUSH CleanTech team has grown from the six founders in 2010 to 80 employees today. As the company’s newest division, the team benefits from the capabilities of other brands, including Roush Industries, Roush Fenway Racing, and ROUSH Performance.
With the birth of ROUSH CleanTech in 2010, the technology was transferred to other industries, and soon the new division had fruitful contracts with commercial fleets and school bus operators in Boston and Omaha.
Today, Roush has 7,500 Blue Bird Type C propane buses on the road in more than 500 school districts. And there’s more to come. The company will produce fuel systems for about 3,000 vehicles a year. Of that, 2,000 are school buses.
No Slowing Down
Propane sales are forecasted to grow about nine percent through 2025, according to IFC, a consulting provider that works with PERC. This year, PERC launched a multimedia marketing campaign aimed at improving consumer perceptions of propane for household use.
The conversion of private and government vehicles into alternative fuel vehicles is contributing to market expansion, as well as government incentives to install infrastructure. Up to 56,000 miles of pipeline and more than 6,000 retail dealer locations now make propane autogas readily available to the public.
And then there’s growth expected for CNG, the second school transportation alternative fuel entry that CleanTech is pursuing in partnership with Blue Bird. It’s also a remarkable milestone for Roush Industries.
“We’re excited to have the first CNG branded product in our entire organization,” noted Carney.
CNG-powered vehicles have had big growth in corporate and utility fleets, and now the school bus CNG market is gaining speed, as governments provide incentive funding and manufacturers add more products to the market.
For ROUSH CleanTech, the opportunities keep coming.
“The fuel industry is looking to us to get it done,” said Carney.
On ROUSH CleanTech’s assembly line in Michigan, employees carefully craft and test propane fuel injectors. The company has a built-in system for traceability, so that each production step is documented for quality.
