Volvo Developing A Plug-in Hybrid Bus
2011-09-05 Source：www.chinabuses.org
www.chinabuses.org: Volvo Buses is currently developing a plug-in hybrid bus that can drive long distances silently and exhaust-free on only electricity. Three buses will be tested in Gothenburg, Sweden, supported by the European Union. It is essentially the same Volvo hybrid bus as today, where the brake energy is recycled and utilized by the electric motor. But, with a new type of battery and charging equipment it will also be possible to charge the battery via the electricity network.
The concept is based on placing battery charging stations at the end stations of the bus lines. By charging the battery there for five to ten minutes, it could significantly extend the time that the bus is able to operate only on electricity.
Volvo Plug-in Hybrid city bus
This could entail distances of up to ten kilometers, with the corresponding advantages in the form of silent traffic with no local emissions. It can be controlled so that the bus operates on electricity in densely populated areas or in particularly sensitive environmental areas, while the diesel engine can be used on other parts of the route.
This technology will generate considerable opportunities to significantly reduce energy consumption. The reason is that electric engines have very high efficiency.
“We expect to be able to reduce the energy consumption in a city bus by up to 65% compared with today’s diesel buses,” says Håkan Karlsson. “And, the plug-in hybrid bus will be able to reduce diesel consumption and thus carbon-dioxide emissions by more than 75%.”
Volvo Buses expects to have a prototype bus ready for testing in 2011. The next step will be taken in autumn 2012, when a field test will commence in Gothenburg using three chargeable hybrid buses. The buses will be put in service with passengers on Line 60.
The field test project will be implemented in cooperation with Business Region Göteborg, the Traffic Office in Gothenburg City, Västtrafik and Göteborgs Energi, which will be responsible for the charging stations. The project was granted a subsidy of Euro 1,4 M from the EU’s program that supports environmental ventures, Life+.
The field test will commence in autumn 2012, but Volvo Buses does not know yet when the company will be able to offer this bus in the market.
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