New Electric Bus

[RJ]

Wonder how much the battery pack weighs. . .

http://www.byd.com/news/news-274.html

[HB of CJ]

At first glance my BS meter was running off the scale.  Yep ... very good question indeed.  How much DOES that battery back weigh?  And ... what is considered highway speed?  Twenty miles per hour?  Down hill?  For nearly 200 miles?  It must start out at the top of Mr. Everest.

Just running the numbers through my feeble minds eye, it might appear that the supposed battery pack would have to go in at at least 10,000 pounds.  Maybe 20,000.  Which pretty much  leaves out the aforementioned concept ... with 47 passengers ... all on a TWO axle chassis!  Just me.

PS: My old 1974 Crown Supercoach ex schoolie 40 foot 3 axle 10 wheeler weighed about 24,500 stripped and had the POTENTIAL of going in as much as 54,000 with spring upgrades.  Subtract 20,000 for the battery pack and that STILL does not leave enough for everything else. Yikes!

HB of CJ (old coot)

[CrabbyMilton]

Looks sharp! Until they can come up with a cordless vacuum cleaner that doesn't run out of juice after less than 5 minutes, I'll be skeptical. I think most operators will still rely on CUMMINS or DETROIT to propel their charter coaches for the time being or until they can prove they can play with the big old boys.

[Jeremy]

The interesting thing is that it sounds like the company is essentially a battery technology company that are involved in producing electric vehicles as an application for their products. Their iron phosphate battery 'invention' does sound a bit too good to be true, but who knows, battery technology is developing rapidly and I don't doubt that Chinese are at the forefront.

Here's a bit about the batteries from the description of their 60' articulated transit:

The bus runs on eight lithium iron phosphate battery modules, four to a side, that provide enough charge for more than 170 miles, Holtz said. In lab tests, the batteries have a life cycle of about 27 years, about twice the life span of an average bus, he said. The bus can hold up to 120 passengers.

And it doesn't look like they take up all that much space:



And these things can't just be milk floats because the info. on the intercity bus says "...highway speed for over 190 miles"

As I say, does sound too good to be true, but you've got to assume those claims are more-or-less genuine given that these appear to be off-the-shelf products that can be bought today, rather than concept vehicles at a motor show.

Jeremy

[digesterman]

I think that thing on top is just an electric extension cord reel, pretty sure

[RJ]

And ... what is considered highway speed?

HB -

Says right in the article: 62.5 mph (100 kph), about the same as what a 4104 or the Tortoise is happy at.

FWIW & HTH. . .

[eagle19952]

More Electric buses....http://abc7.com/technology/company-rebuilds-buses-to-run-on-zero-emission-clean-technology/417882/] [url]http://abc7.com/technology/company-rebuilds-buses-to-run-on-zero-emission-clean-technology/417882/[/url]

[Newbob]

SUre, "At highway speeds for 190 miles" - But what if your location is miles from the highway? I'll bet the start/stop city driving would decrease that range to less than 100 miles! Still cool but hardly cost effective.

[Jeremy]

SUre, "At highway speeds for 190 miles" - But what if your location is miles from the highway? I'll bet the start/stop city driving would decrease that range to less than 100 miles! Still cool but hardly cost effective.

You've got to assume that the highway bus will have the same regenerative braking as their transit model. It would be very odd if it didn't

Jeremy

[Iceni John]

I have the feeling that this is still a long way from being a mature technology that can be completely relied upon, and that users of these battery buses are essentially guinea pigs for the manufacturers' R&D.   I also wonder why a small efficient constant-speed diesel- (or even gas turbine-) powered generator could not be used to continuously recharge the batteries  -  the generator would be sized according to the average load, with the batteries supplying backup when needed such as during acceleration, and Regenerative Braking feeding power back at other times.   Doesn't the new Routemaster do something like this?   Inductive charging pads under every transit bus stop could also push power back into the batteries every time the bus is stopped for passengers.   Maybe in another decade or so we'll see viable battery buses, but I don't think we're there yet.

I'm surprised that the Germans, leaders in Europe for renewable energy such as PV, aren't more involved in this.   Maybe they're waiting to see if the Chinese stumble or are focused on the wrong direction?

John

[Jeremy]

I'd be amazed if there was any real bus manufacturer anywhere who didn't have an all-electric or hybrid bus of some form under development; I know there are electric buses already in regular service in a number of UK cities, and at least one city here has inductive charging plates built into the road at bus stops - the thing about this Chinese bus though is that it's an all-electric highway coach, not a transist bus. I share the scepticism about the real-world feasibility of that

Jeremy

[CrabbyMilton]

There are many hybrid transit buses in use here in America. I don't know how they are holding up as far as reliability and long term durability is concerned but I tend to ride one about once a year when I go down to the Chicago Auto Show for a couple miles. It feels funny to feel the bus accelerates while the engine is still at idle then it winds up but doesn't go back to idle in sync with the speed of the bus. Seems to suit a transit bus but like I said, how will they be long term?
MCI has a hybrid but I don't know how many if any are in service.

[digesterman]

I am no fan of electric buses but my wife's Prius impresses the heck out of me. she went from a heavy MBZ that got 10 in town (22 on HWY) to 35 - 40 in town and about 50 on the hwy, needless to say the MBZ she parked in the garage.

I am impressed with the progress and think one day soon they will get it, hope so. Tesla doing great, improvements are bound to come.

[CrabbyMilton]

100% electric is still no good at best.You either need expensive overhead wires or a very heavy and space robbing battery that you hope the tow truck is within a mile at all times. That has a long way to go. At least with a hybrid, you have an engine to keep it going.
Last time I rode in a cab, it was a TOYOTA CAMRY hybrid. The driver says he loves it since his fuel costs have been cut by 3/4 compared to his old FORD CROWN VICTORIA. That thing really flew too with the olny drawback was the gasoline engine wasa 4 cylinder hence the horrible noise it makes but in a commercial vehicle, that's almost a non issue I guess. Too bad FORD discontinued the CROWN VICTORIA/GRAND MARQUIS and it's sister LINCOLN TOWN CAR. Otherwise a hybrid version of that car would have been great for cabs. But perhaps FORD will have hybrid version of the TAURUS at some point. Some of us like bigger cars but my '04 GRAND MARQUIS still acts like it's brand new.

[lvmci]

Hi All, I like the Volts idea, electric drive with an engine running a large generator that supplies electricity  to take over after batteries draw down, a locomotive on the fwy. Batteries around town, but  distance drives are always possible, I would like to see the generators engine powered by CNG, lvmci...