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New ‘green’ buses set to whirr into action
Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent10 Nov 2008
A FLEET of "green" double-decker buses is to go into service in London this week.
The hybrid bus is said to be quieter, smoother for passengers and is the first to be powered solely by an electric motor.
Traditional hybrids switch to fuel when the electric motor is under too much pressure.
But the "Hybridive" only uses diesel to drive an electrical generator to top up the batteries, which are charged every time the driver uses the brakes.
The bus was developed by defence company BAE. Rob Lindsay of BAE said the bus was well suited "to the slow speeds and constant stopping and starting of London".
Vehicle maker Alexander Dennis will supply 12 double-decker and five single-deck buses.
Reader views (11)
The buses in question are DIESEL buses with regenerative electrical transmissions. They are propelled by burning diesel fuel (only) and cannot accurately be described as electric vehicles. They are expensive alternatives to conventional diesels and at best only marginally ‘greener’. Real electric vehicles run on externally generated electricity either stored in rechargeable batteries or obtained from overhead wires (or both). London once had 2,500 electric vehicles on its streets [1,700 trolleybuses and 800 trams in 1950] and there is no good reason why it could not have 2,500 (or more) again - Moscow still does for example. On urban bus routes and networks all over the world modern trolleybuses compete economically with conventional diesels – the environmental benefits of electric traction in effect come free.
- Irvine, Lytham St Annes, England, 17/11/2008 15:44
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First Bus entirely driven by an Electric Motor? 40 years ago there were well over 1000 of them 'whirring' around parts of London.They were known as Trolleybuses, I don;t suppose your Reporterwas alive then! But alas the Motor Bus Lobby put a stop to that.Fuel was cheap then, and 'enviromental issues'still some way off.
- Colin Vaughan, Barnet Herts., 13/11/2008 09:48
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The word, 'green' is rapidly overtaking 'new' as the great advertising and general hype con word. Of course if you put the two together, 'New green' you can get double hype. Total electric traction is completely clean on street and with renewable electricity production can be environmentally sound ('green' if you like). This form of power was used by London's trams and trolleybuses (but not with 'green' electricity generation) and could be used by similar vehicles again in London (although becuase of limited road width there is more scope for trolleybuses than trams). Nothing that has a diesel engine that at anytime spews noxious chemicals into the air we breathe and that produces CO2 in large quantities can possibly be really environmentally friendly (or 'green'). The huge extra costs just gives you something a little less nasty than other 'ordinary' diesels. To suggest otherwise is sadly just hype.
- Gordon Mackley, East Malling, Kent, 13/11/2008 08:51
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"Are these buses "silent""
As silent as a car with a continuously running 1.9 litre diesel engine, presumably, albeit that the engine's at the back. There's (of course) a YouTube clip of a journey on one, and it does sound different to a normal bus; a combination of the electric motor whine with the continuous diesel engine.
This obviously doesn't have anything to do with articulated buses, since the hybrid programme has been going since before the election. Bendies are just a big bus, repeat that to yourself and we'll avoid making an entirely preventable mistake.
- Tom, London, 10/11/2008 21:16
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it's not the buses that need to go smoother. It's the drivers that drive like they are on a rally course and forget they are driving paying human beings, children and elderly alike. Forget about marketing a smoother greener bus, if the drivers drove as they should the ride would be smoother and greener anyway.
I am a professional driver and fear that each time I travel on a bus, I leave myself open to feeling like knocking the drivers block off as reporting them is a waste of time.
- John Patino, London, 10/11/2008 19:57
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pedestrians are a risk to themselves. And every one of the foolish idiots who stepped out on to the road without looking on my way home tonight, and every night last week, should learn how to cross a road, safely!
Make j-walking illegal and let everyone know that if they choose to cross a road outside of designated crossings, should they be hit by an automobile, then they, the pedestrian are liable.
I've had enough of selfish idiots grinding traffic to a halt and endangering everyone else around them.
- Simon Caleb, London, 10/11/2008 17:29
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Are these buses "silent" if so is there a risk to pedestrians who may not hear them approaching.
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford England, 10/11/2008 15:40
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These buses might be ok for isolated areas but for London Trams and Trolly-buses would provide as good a solution today as they once did when London had the biggest networks in the world.
But we have a Mayor who when it comes to oil still thinks its 2/6 a gallon judging by the way he has scrapped plans to expand Londons tram network.
And to Judith C Artics are the best buses London has ever had in the way the move millions of passengers on routes which are often decendents of the old tram network. It a pity they get delayed by all these slow double-deck buses which are limited a single entrance and exit and if Boris gets his way passengers getting on will have to fight those getting off making bus stop dwell times even longer and thus making bus journeys less attractive to use.
Proof of the above can be seen at how fast artics load and unload at bus stops and as for talk of open platform buses allowing people to board/alight between stops well surely buses should be running at speed between stops to make it dangerous to try to board or alight. But that would mean decent bus lanes and buses able to change traffic lights to green as the approach.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 10/11/2008 14:30
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"is the first to be powered solely by an electric motor."
No that is not correct, over 2,000 red London buses were solely powered by electric motors until replaced by diesel Routemaster buses in the ealy sixties. To bring electric road public transport to the streets we do not have to lay costly railway lines and run inflexible trams, nor do we have to build buses with diesel generators and expensive batteries on board. Why do the UK's transport people refuse to rediscover the simple trolleybus?
- Mark, Bournemouth England, 10/11/2008 14:15
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Erm, this is nothing to do with the new Routemaster. And it is entirely possible to develop an articulated bus with these features.
- David Potts, London, 10/11/2008 12:33
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Good! About time we got rid of the bendy atrocities.
- Judith C, London, UK, 10/11/2008 11:18
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