Why We Are Circularly Remanufacturing School Buses, Not Scrapping Them

The Toyota HiAce is the most common school bus on Lagos roads, and most of the ageing fleet still has a sound chassis and body long after the petrol drivetrain has become an unaffordable liability. Project 1, CSRP, is built around that observation.

The conversion removes the internal combustion drivetrain and installs a purpose-sized 35 to 40kWh LiFePO4 battery pack, a 70 to 100kW AC induction motor with regenerative braking, a motor controller, an on-board charger, a battery management system, and SPARC+CM's own VCU telematics unit.

The result costs 74 to 81 percent less than procuring a new electric bus, which is the difference between a programme that can only reach premium schools and one that can reach the schools where 15 to 25 percent of the operating budget is already going to generator fuel.

It also does something a new vehicle cannot: it preserves the 20 to 30 tonnes of embodied manufacturing carbon already locked into the vehicle, generating a second, independent carbon credit stream on top of the transport emissions avoided by going electric.