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Adelaide Introducing Solar-Charged Bus
31 December 2007
The Adelaide (South Australia) City Council is introducing a solar-powered electric bus. Called Tindo—the Kaurna Aboriginal word for sun—the bus is to be recharged using 100% solar energy to be generated by a solar photovoltaic (PV) system installed on the roof of the new Adelaide Central Bus Station.
Lord Mayor Michael Harbison says the bus will be used every day as a free service for the people of Adelaide through the Adelaide City Council’s free Adelaide Connector Bus service.
The bus is made by Designline International and the solar PV panels are supplied by BP Solar. The solar PV system at the new Adelaide Central Bus Station will generate almost 70,000 kWh of electricity each year, making it currently the largest grid-connected system in Adelaide.
Much of the funding for the $550,000 solar PV system has been provided by the Adelaide Solar City program, with the Adelaide City Council also committing significant funding.
The bus has an operational range of 200 kilometers (124 miles) between charges under typical urban conditions, and is able to carry 27 passengers, with 25 seated and two wheelchair spaces. The bus uses 11 Zebra sodium/nickel battery modules.
December 31, 2007 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
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What a good idea.
Adelaide may become the envy of progressive London (England) and many cities in southern USA specially in California.
A few thousand solar buses in every major cities would help to reduce pollution where it is already a real nuisance.
City bus garage roofs may not have enough area to install all the PV required. Using the large bus roof + employees parking lot roofs + adjacent building roofs etc may help.
Posted by: | Dec 31, 2007 12:24:21 PM
Hopefully they can make this a viable option, and soon. Electric buses solve the double problem of air and noise pollution. As a city-dweller, I'm eagerly looking forward to the day when diesel buses are a thing of the past.
Posted by: justin | Dec 31, 2007 2:53:32 PM
When does the sun shine ?
During the day.
When are buses in use ?
During the day.
How long is the wire from the bus to the cells ?
Not very long.
Thus, the PV cells are doing anything but charge the buses. The "solar bus" is a marketing idea ( and a good one, but not reality ).
Electric buses are a good thing - low pollution in cities and can be charged at night using low rate juice.
PV cells are ( or will soon be ) a good thing in sunny places, like Adelaide City, no doubt.
But please - don't kid us that the PV cells charge the buses - they feed into the grid ( a good thing ) and the buses are recharged from the grid (also a good thing).
Also, how many sq metres of PV do you need to offset a bus charge for a day ?
In summary ...
Electric bus - nice!
PV electricity - nice!
PV charging all day use vehicles - please!
Posted by: mahonj | Dec 31, 2007 3:50:22 PM
But recharging vehicles at night and solar boosting the grid during the day does make sense as does maximizing the work done (and exposure) by that vehicle even if that means free public transport.
As a number (that I'm aware of) studies have shown free public transport is a highly efficient delivery system.
Of course I dont mean free because taxpayers funded but that communities take such issues on board and will respond in ways that maximise efficiencies and productivity if only the planning dept commitment can be sustained.
This bus must have a lot of attention and would be ideal subject for "free transport system model.
Posted by: arnold | Dec 31, 2007 6:20:19 PM
Also it should be noted that the electricity produced in Australia is mostly coal generated. Solar energy peaks during the day during maximum demand. It thereby displaces expensive peak demand. Sounds good.
Posted by: aym | Dec 31, 2007 9:08:53 PM
mahonj:
If you cover the bus roof with high performance solar panels (about 30 sq.meter) you could get about (6 x 30 x 200)/1000 = 36 Kwh of free energy per day.
The average electric city bus consumes about 0.8 Kwh/Km and could go about 45 Km per sunny day on free solar power.
This is no where near enough but could cover about 20% of the energy required and extend the distance per battery recharge.
A minimum of another 120 to 150 sq. meter of high performance PV per bus would be required to generate enough energy.
Some of the extra panels could be installed over regular bus stop shelters i.e 100 shelters x 10 sq. meters = a potential of (6 x 100 x 10 x 200)/1000 1200 KWh per day or equivalent to another 1500 Km per day or enough for about 6 electric buses.
Transfering the stored energy quickly from the bus stop shelters to the bus is another challenge to be addressed but it is doable. Supercaps or very quick charge batteries could do it. With a (free) quick charge at every stop, an electric bus could go a long way.
Posted by: Harvey D | Jan 2, 2008 1:12:00 PM
Put them on the bus roof themselves! Maybe the windows too with thin film solar, all these installations are incremental, they offset other generation and extend the range of the bus, not to mention save and diversify our fuel sources, all great ideas and incrementally move us to a more sustainable society.
Posted by: Mark M | Jan 2, 2008 1:18:01 PM
this is a great idea
Posted by: kc | May 20, 2008 9:59:31 AM
