Although major automakers of the world have expressed their sincerity for the planet’s future by contributing to the growing range of EVs on offer for the general public, the development of public transportation with eco-friendly credentials has been left largely to electric trains makers. The good news, however, is that makers of public transportation vehicles are slowly but surely waking up the need for creating more planet-friendly vehicles. City bus giants Volvo are among the world’s first makers of hybrid buses that are employed in public transport networks.
Having sold more than 250 hybrid buses already, the firm is now working on a new version of the hybrid that will be able to reduce emissions by more than 35% with the help of an innovative internal combustion engine and a battery-run chargeable electric motor. The current lot of the company’s hybrid buses runs on a regenerating braking-fitted electric motor and diesel engine combo. The company plans to take this model forward by introducing a chargeable version of the electric motor that can power up at bus stops in just 5-10 minutes.
Word has it that the quick charge cycle will be sufficient to provide the buses with enough juice to cover a range of around 10 kilometers without having to use the fuel-run engine. For a city bus that needs to make frequent stops every few kilometers, the stats make the innovation look good enough to eat. Although the company is still working hard, trying to make the numbers look even better (and they probably will by the time the hybrid bus hits the streets), credentials like these will make these buses ideal for environmentally sensitive locales and inter-city areas like hospitals and schools that need to be pollution-free.
The CEO of Volvo Buses, Hakan Karlsson, has said:
Reducing the total global energy consumption is the most important measure today and in the future. We expect to be able to reduce the energy consumption in a city bus by up to 65% compared with today’s diesel buses. Plug-in hybrid bus will be able to reduce diesel consumption and thus carbon-dioxide emissions by more than 75%.
The company expects to release a prototype of the bus by the end of this year with around three of these being ready for field testing in Gothenburg, Sweden sometime in the autumn of 2012. The prototypes will use the chargeable hybrid power system.
The biggest worry for the model will remain the lack of electric charging points for the buses in other parts of the country as well as other parts of the world where Volvo exports its buses. However, with world governments becoming more and more conscious about reducing their carbon emissions, we can hope that by the time Volvo readies these buses, government agencies will also be willing to put up the necessary charging infrastructure in their cities.
Via: Zigwheels
