Category: EV Bus

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BYD Electric Bus enters service at Sydney Airport [VIDEO]

Sydney Airport has unveiled Australia’s first electric airport bus, as part of a $5 million investment in environmentally friendly ground transport technology.

The Electric Blu bus is the first of a fleet of six electric buses to be operational by the end of this year, replacing the airport’s existing diesel bus fleet servicing the shuttle route between the T2/T3 terminal precinct and the Blu Emu Car Park.

“We’re proud to be the first Australian airport to introduce electric buses to our Parking and Ground Transport operations, which will reduce our carbon footprint and enhance the passenger experience,” Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kerrie Mather said.

“These state-of-the-art electric buses can make up to 100 transfer journeys on a single charge, providing a clean and sustainable transport option for the two million travellers, visitors and airport workers who use the Blu Emu shuttle service every year.”

The fleet of Blu Emu electric buses will deliver carbon emission reductions of approximately 160 tonnes per year and improve local air quality through zero tailpipe emissions. The fleet will also lower external noise levels, reduce waste fluids to zero and decrease the amount of toxic material generated during servicing.

Electric Blu is a ‘Toro’ model electric bus, created by Carbridge in a joint venture with the world’s leading global electric bus manufacturer BYD.

“Carbridge is delighted to deliver to Sydney Airport this country’s first electric airport bus and in partnership with BYD we are excited to be at the forefront of electric bus manufacturing in Australia,” Carbridge Chief Executive Officer Luke Todd said.

The Electric Blu bus has a carrying capacity of 70 passengers, features purpose-designed luggage storage racks and has a range of 400km on a single charge. Sydney Airport has invested in charging stations and other ancillary equipment to support the deployment of the new electric bus fleet.

The airport is also currently trialling electric cars as part of its ground transport fleet and investigating solar-powered charging stations to further decrease carbon emissions, while research and development is underway for recycling and reuse of batteries and other components.

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Driven | 2016 Toyota Prius

Toyota has been promising better handling with its cars, and it has delivered with the fourth-generation Prius. While it still does not look like a conventional car, the Prius now handles more like one.
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World’s Largest Ultra-fast EV Charging Station Goes Live

EV charging complex has 25x chargers at 360kW and 5x chargers at 90kW; maintaining a capacity for Ultra-fast charging 30 urban transit buses at the same time

Equipped with Microvast's ultra-fast charging battery, a Foton electric bus stops by a charging point after a few loops of operation. Trained staff plug in the charger and within 10-15 minutes the electric bus's battery is refilled to maximum operating capacity and ready to go again. This now happens everyday in many bus terminals across metropolitan Beijing with the deployment of this cutting edge charging technology. Among all the ultra-fast charging stations, the newly opened charging station in Xiaoying Public Transit Bus Terminal is the largest.

Located in Chaoyang district, Beijing, built by China State Grid, this new charging complex covers an area of 26,500 m2 with its structures covering 1,575m2. Designed to satisfy the growing charging demand especially from the increase of ultra-fast charging electric buses departing from this terminal, this complex provides the infrastructure to charge 30 buses at the same time.

Originally a natural gas hybrid bus fleet, Beijing transit route 13 with Foton buses, like ten plus other major city bus routes departed from Xiaoying Terminal, now completely converted to ultra-fast charging full electric bus fleet. They join hundreds of other E-buses in Beijing already deployed using the same battery technology from Microvast.

After conversion to ultra-fast charging technology, the Route 13 fleet has improved operating efficiency while reducing Beijing's GHG emissions. Each new bus takes only 10-15 minutes to complete recharging the battery. Charging each bus takes place 2-3 times per day, during driver breaks, with several route loops between each charge.

Compared to earlier battery swapping system adopted by Beijing to experiment on improving Slow-charge Battery E-bus's operating efficiency and reduce down-time, the ultra-fast charging "battery + charger" system needs neither the investment and large storage space footprint for extra batteries, nor high cost complex with automated robotic battery pack swapping infrastructure, bringing obvious advantages to customers and utility companies with more rapid ROI.

With future facility and charging point expansions already planned out for 2016-2020, to accommodate more routes converting to fast charge EV, Xiaoying Terminal Charge station will play a greater role in the development of clean energy public transit system for Beijing in the near future.

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Bombardier’s Battery Powered Tram Sets Range Record

Bombardier Transportation has successfully completed a 41.6 km catenary-free test run using a Bombardier-built tram, powered entirely by its PRIMOVE battery in combination with BOMBARDIER MITRAC. The test run was conducted in the German city of Mannheim on the Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH (RNV) network.

RNV began using SuperCaps energy storage systems in 2009, and has integrated this technology into 30 of their trams. This provided sufficient energy for short CFO distances. However, the latest generation of Bombardier’s PRIMOVE battery system has been specifically developed for use with CFO where greater distances need to be covered.

In addition to application in Germany, the PRIMOVE battery and MITRAC propulsion equipment combination has been in successful revenue service on the Hexi line in Nanjing, China since August 2014. Six trams, built by CRRC Puzhen under Bombardier license, operate without overhead cables on 90 per cent of the lines. The batteries are charged seamlessly during passenger service via the pantograph, statically at tram stops, and dynamically during acceleration. On this demanding route, the CFO propulsion system has proven its suitability for almost any tram line worldwide.

The innovative PRIMOVE battery system builds upon Bombardier’s many years of experience with energy storage systems. The system combines high power capacity and exceptional battery life with high reliability and has been designed to maximize performance using the latest developments in nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) Li-Ion cells. The advanced PRIMOVE thermal conditioning unit maintains the battery’s ideal temperature and enables rapid charging and full braking energy recovery while extending their lifetime to up to ten years.

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Volvo Electric Bus Promotion in Gothenburg Sweden [VIDEO]

ElectriCity is a unique collaboration that has resulted in Gothenburg's first modern electric bus route. Volvo is one of the project partners and was also involved in creating the Silent Bus Sessions, a campaign involving some of Sweden's hottest artists performing four songs for unsuspecting passengers on the silent buses on route 55.

The campaign “Silent Bus Sessions” has become a viral success. The videos, where Swedish artists Zara Larsson and Seinabo Sey perform on the new electric bus route in Gothenburg have reached 2.5 million views.

Here's a behind the scenes look at the set of Silent Bus Sessions.

Source: ElectriCity

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Proterra Electric Bus Travels 412 km on a Single Charge [VIDEO]

Proterra announced today that their 40-foot Catalyst XR bus drove 258 miles (412 km) on a single charge under test conditions at Michelin's esteemed Laurens Proving Grounds (LPG). The Catalyst's range demonstration marks a significant step toward Proterra's goal of providing a high-performance bus that can serve any typical transit route in the United States.

The Catalyst XR configuration included eight battery packs, with a total energy capacity of 257 kWh. Based on these test results, Proterra predicts its ten pack XR configuration (321 kWh) will achieve 300 miles (480 km) on a single charge. According to available General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data, typical urban and rural bus routes in the United States run less than 200 miles a day, bringing most routes within reach of Proterra's current technology.

"The purpose-driven Catalyst design affords the best efficiency rating ever for a 40-foot transit bus, at 22 MPG equivalent," said John Sleconich, Chief Engineer at Proterra. "Proterra buses are the only mass transit vehicle built from the ground up as an electric vehicle. With a unique aerodynamic body made from carbon fiber and advanced composite materials, we are able to reduce mass for maximum efficiency."

Beyond meeting a given route's minimum range requirements, Proterra electric vehicles are poised to make a significant impact on the transit market because of the Catalyst's low operational cost per mile compared to diesel, CNG, and diesel-hybrid buses. Over the 12-year life of a bus, Proterra customers will dramatically reduce maintenance costs, saving around $135K. The environmental benefits are also making an impressive impact. Collectively, Proterra customers have logged more than 1.3 million miles of revenue service to date, preventing more than 4.7 million pounds of emissions.

"The U.S. is quickly waking up to the economic, environmental, and performance benefits of zero-emission electric buses," said Proterra CEO, Ryan Popple. "While diesel buses pollute our communities and are increasingly more costly to own and operate, Proterra is pushing the bounds of EV technology and steadily driving down costs. Achieving this range is validation for our technology and gives us the confidence that Proterra is capable of what we initially set out to accomplish - replacing every fossil fuel bus in the United States with a fully electric one. "