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| Hybrid Bus Technology in New York City and Other Countries:
Impact of use of Hybrid Buses: Recent and planned Hybrid bus purchases by NYCT:
- Three areas listed above have at least five buses with a mileage of more than 10,000 road miles - Since 1998, New York City has been implementing 11 diesel-electric hybrid buses in the Manhattan area. - In December, Orange County, Calif., was the first on the West Coast to try hybrid buses. - FTA's Edwards sees this country becoming a leader in hybrid bus technology due to its edge in computer technology, and advanced use of batteries in spacecraft and the military application of lighter-weight construction materials.
- On the 29th of February of 2002 the new hybrid bus successfully completed its first year of operation in downtown Los Angeles - In Portland, OR a full size hybrid electric bus has been placed in operation by Tri-Met (uses system similar to that of the Orange county system) - Tempe, AZ has placed the largest request for hybrid bus delivery (ordering 31 hybrid-electric buses) - Tampa, FL has ordered 9 hybrid buses with AVS of Chattanooga, TN being the main supplier. - On March 14th 2002 Louisville, KY has also introduced hybrid buses expected to be in operation by mid 2003 - University campuses have also introduced hybrid buses, the University of Tennessee being one of such campuses (obtaining the buses through Knoxville area transit) - In the United states there are around 40 different cities operating or planning to implement hybrid bus technology 3. In Europe and Asia the trend to switch to hybrid buses is expanding but at a slower rate than in America: - Europe first displayed the hybrid bus in Luxembourg in September of 1995. It has since been presented in various countries around Europe. -“Sagittaire” is a project designed to show the ability of hybrid buses to operate in cities all over Europe. The cities part of this project are Luxembourg, Alicante, Athens, Besancon, Brugge, Leuven, Savona, Sintra, Stavanger and Trento. - ULSD is expanding rapidly in Europe, with the UK, Sweden, Germany and Holland set to convert all on-road diesel fuel by 2003 - Close to 50 hybrid buses have been sent for testing throughout Europe (in Germany, Italy, Sweden and Denmark). - In Asia, hybrid buses are being tested in Japan, Thailand, and Australia and Korea - China’s first electric hybrid bus was exhibited by Beijing Chargeking Energy Technology Company Ltd.
-"There's a two-year waiting period to get one built and the procurement process take six months," Says Boon - It takes around three years to obtain these vehicles. - Some obstacles to the commercial growth of the hybrid bus technology include the performance of current lead-acid batteries, the availability of medium-duty engines certified for transit bus applications, and the high purchase cost of the first generation of production vehicles. This high purchase cost is exacerbated by the small size of the transit bus market, which cannot support the development of new technologies on its own.
- The buses get a rating of B+ based on ease of driving and reliability from Dana Lowell, the assistant chief maintenance officer in the agency’s office of research. - Bus does not roll back on hills, it is usable on all NYC routes - Older buses can be retired or replaced with new engines by 2003 (since the new buses have engines that are 94% cleaner than those of 10 years ago) - Hybrid buses had 10% higher in-service fuel economy on average for the entire evaluation period compared to the NovaBUS RTS diesel buses (fuel economy and battery charge vary with the outside temperature and season). Looking at fuel economy per month, the fuel economy advantage of the hybrid buses went as high as 22% during one month of the evaluation period. No external charging was required for the hybrid buses. The hybrid configuration alone resulted in a 6% fuel economy increase. Fuel economy is improved even further (23%-64% higher depending on test cycle) through regenerative braking, which stores energy that would otherwise be lost as heat in the brakes.
- President of MTA New York City Transit: “These buses offer an impressive combination of environmental, cost and performance advantages we have not seen from other alternative fuels.”
Research conducted by Inna Soybelman |