ESW Canada’s sales team has worked diligently over the course of the past year setting up the key distributors along with the required training to become ThermaCat Certified Installers. This program, designed to ensure the proper application of the technology, guarantees that all ThermaCat school bus installations will be carried out by licensed, qualified technicians meeting our strict standards. Because the complete ThermaCat school bus retrofit kit is engineered and manufactured for installation on each vehicle manufacturer’s model and year, Certified installations are done without alterations to the bus frame/chassis which could potentially compromise the buses safety.
The ThermaCat is the new diesel emissions reduction technology to receive CARB’s regulatory approval and the first Active Level III Plus Diesel particulate Filter system to utilize real-time filter cleaning capabilities. This safe, repeated, controlled process regenerates the collected particulate matter stored in the diesel particulate filter in real-time engine operation. By doing so, the ThermaCat maintains optimized emissions reductions in cold or inconsistent duty cycle applications without the need for driver interface, expensive regeneration equipment, vehicle downtime or daily maintenance intervals. This new approach gives the ThermaCat Active Level III Plus catalyst system a very large vehicle cross section and demographic of school bus applications.
In January 2009 the ThermaCat became the first and only Active Level III Plus Diesel particulate Filter system to meet compliance with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS 301) by specifically meeting the mandatory requirements school bus vehicle manufacturers must adhere to. At the conclusion of the crash test, although the bus was deemed a total loss, the ThermaCat passed the FMVSS 301 protocol with zero failure. In a separate test procedure the ThermaCat system and proprietary school bus installation kit were tested on a 1,000 hour / 100,000 mile vibration and shock durability simulation machine. The ThermaCat passed the test with zero failure to the system or installation components.
In June 2009, First Student, a nationwide school bus transportation provider, notified the company that the first ThermaCat installed on one of their buses, had passed the California Highway Patrol (CHP) inspection for applications on school buses carrying children on California roads. With this CHP approved installation, the ThermaCat became the first fully compliant FMVSS 301 retrofit Level III Plus diesel emissions reduction device utilizing a diesel fuel based real-time active regeneration technology to legally be installed on a school bus operating in the State of California.
David J. Johnson, ESW’s president and chief executive officer commented, “Every day of the school year, millions of children in North America take bus transportation to and from school being exposed to potentially health threatening diesel engine emissions. Commercializing what we believe to be the cleanest, safest retrofit diesel engine emissions reduction technology for these in service buses was one of our primary goals from the beginning. With the successful launch of the ThermaCat™ school bus product, we believe we have achieved just that.”
“The current North American market consists of a total estimated population in excess of 490,000 school buses and represents one of the best funded retrofit programs.” Johnson further remarked. “These vehicle demographic numbers did not go unnoticed when we began this comprehensive program over two years ago resulting in this latest CARB verification. We look forward to working through our established North American distribution network to service one of the most important sectors of our market.”
