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Park City, Kan., Firm Debuts Gas-Electric Bus

Posted on: Monday, 18 July 2005, 18:01 CDT

Jul. 16--Optima Bus is on a roll.

On Friday, the Park City-based bus maker unveiled its new hybrid-powered Opus bus, driving it down to the Sedgwick County Courthouse so county commissioners and local journalists could get a look.

The company presently sells a regular diesel version of its 30-foot-long Opus bus and a diesel-powered trolley.

The hybrid -- which uses electricity and diesel power -- is just the first of what is likely to be several major announcements for the company in the next few years.

Optima is in the running for two large bus contracts, each worth tens of millions of dollars, to sell its regular diesel-powered Opus, company officials said. The contract winners will be announced in October.

But the company's future lies with something called bus rapid transit, or BRT for short.

BRT is a bus that acts like a commuter train. Long, fast and not very maneuverable, it is designed to streak down carpool lanes on big cities' major highways.

"It's bigger than the hybrid market," Optima Bus chief executive Michael Monteferrante said.

The BRTs will cost $600,000 to $700,000 apiece.

The company is starting design of the BRT now and expects to have a prototype ready in 18 to 24 months. If all goes as planned, the company could be in full production in three years.

But that's in the future. The present also looked pretty darn bright Friday.

The shiny new 30-foot hybrid Opus runs on a combination of electric and diesel power, similar to cars such as the Toyota Prius. The bus will get more tweaks and testing before it starts full production late next year.

The market for the environmentally friendly buses was good last year when the company started work on the hybrid and is even better today, Monteferrante said.

The rise in fuel prices and continued pressure to cut air pollution and traffic congestion keep making the Opus hybrid more attractive.

The bus is designed to run best in stop-and-go city traffic, where the braking of the bus recharges electric capacitors, which power the wheels of the bus.

It provides a 20 percent to 40 percent reduction in fuel usage, chief engineer Richard Skibba said. That's a huge savings over the 500,000-mile life of the bus, even though the bus is about $100,000 more expensive than a standard diesel Opus.

In the last six months, Monteferrante raised his estimate of hybrid bus sales to nearly $50 million every year, once production is in full swing in about three years.

That would double the company's annual sales to roughly $100 million and significantly increase the number of workers.

Optima has promised Sedgwick County and the state that it will hire 200 additional workers within five years, in exchange for government help.

The Kansas Department of Commerce loaned Optima $100,000. It becomes a grant if the company meets its hiring targets. Sedgwick County commissioners gave the company a $100,000 loan.

If the BRT takes off as he hopes, annual sales could nearly double again, Monteferrante said.

"It's growing," he said. "It's a fun little place to be."

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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TM, 7203,

Source: The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.)

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