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1,000th GM-Allison Hybrid Bus Enters Service
2 June 2008
The 1,000th city transit bus equipped with the two-mode GM-Allison Hybrid EP-System has entered service in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The hybrid bus powertrain, manufactured and sold by Allison Transmission, was introduced in 2003. So far the Seattle King County Metro Transit Authority has made the biggest commitment to the system, ordering 500 of the hybrid buses. This latest delivery is part of a fleet order by the Regional Transportation Commission of South Nevada (RTC) that will double its fleet of hybrid buses from 30 to 60 operating in the Las Vegas area.
In 2007, more than 400 GM-Allison hybrid-powered buses were produced, with 360 units delivered to 36 cities—the highest annual totals since deliveries began in 2003. International sales of the system are growing since its European launch with Solaris at the IAA Show in September 2006.
Solaris buses with the system are now operating across Germany and Switzerland in cities including Dresden, Leipzig, Lenzburg, and Bochum. The GM-Allison Hybrid EP-System has proven to deliver significant fuel saving benefits, lower emissions, and quiet operation.
The two-mode hybrid technology in the GM-Allison Hybrid EP-System served as the starting point for General Motors’ co-development with DaimlerChrysler and BMW Group of the two-mode hybrid system for passenger vehicles.
June 2, 2008 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments
Excellent news! The magnitude of fuel being saved by these buses has got to be a huge amount, figuring the extensive use of the vehicles. Let's hope for more cities to purchase these buses.
Posted by: Schmeltz | Jun 2, 2008 6:17:26 AM
Actually, this announcement is a perfect example of the political, informational and free market failure that demonstrated by our current energy crisis. Here's a quote from a 2006 GM Press release:
“If the U.S. had only 1,000 GM hybrid-powered buses operating in major cities, the cumulative savings would be more than 1.5 million gallons of fuel annually,” said Tom Stephens, group vice president for GM Powertrain. “With the cost of diesel fuel continuing to rise along with gas prices, this could save thousands of dollars and hundreds of gallons of fuel.”
So now, two years later, we have 1,000 buses? And diesel is at $5.00/gallon? Why don't we have 10,000 hybrid buses? 25,000? And add in 25,000 hybrid garbage trucks and 100,000 delivery vans?
We're still not serious about saving petroleum. 25,000 buses and 25,000 garbage trucks, at 1500 gallons/year saved each, and 100,000 delivery vans, at 300 gallons/year saved each, would mean real savings: 105 million gallons saved/year overall. Now think about the full size of these markets: How many public transit buses? How many school buses? Garbage trucks? Urban delivery vehicles?
It's pretty clear that the US could ramp up in two years and be saving 1 billion gallons a year, in this market alone.
Posted by: dollared | Jun 2, 2008 9:52:33 AM
I agree-start with the most fuel-inefficeint vehicles and hybridize them to save the most fuel and reduce CO2 emissions. These GM-Allison buses are awesome and necessary. I've ridden in one and was amazed at the pickup they had--very quick, which as a driver in a metro area, I wish m ore buses had!
Posted by: MattKelly | Jun 2, 2008 9:53:35 AM
Dollared:
I think the low sell rate of these buses is more attributable to their higher price premiums and lack of skilled technicians to repair them should something go wrong vs. people just not being serious in reducing petroleum usage. You mentioned using this technology on a number of different vehicles (i.e. school buses, garbage trucks, etc.), to which I agree. I think if the cost issue and the servicability issue are each addressed, a lot more of these hybrids could come into service. Let's hope so!
Posted by: Schmeltz | Jun 2, 2008 10:08:29 AM
But seriousness is measured by how quickly you solve those problems. There are a number of ways you can accelerate adoption:
1. Training: a crash training program for support personnel is step 1. The content exists, but government probably needs to play a role in acclerating the training - think about community colleges and technical colleges.
2. Acquisition cost: These buses are self-financing, due to the fuel savings at current pricing. So a government program that handles the cross-year budget effects (in effect, a zero interest financing program), would solve the problem.
After all, money and knowledge are the quickest problems to solve.
Supply chain and engineering of new solutions are the things that take much longer, and these are at least partially solved for both school buses and urban buses (IH has two types of diesel hybrid school buses on sale, and GM Allison has these urban buses).
Wikipedia says that there are 440,000 school buses in use in the US today. What an opportunity.
Posted by: Dollared | Jun 2, 2008 10:35:42 AM
"Wikipedia says that there are 440,000 school buses in use in the US today. What an opportunity."
Ain't that the truth!
Posted by: Schmeltz | Jun 2, 2008 11:05:47 AM
There are more than 500,000 yellow school buses in the U.S. Those buses, on average, get between 7 and 8 miles per gallon. Imagine if those buses were hybrid buses, capable of a 40-percent increase in fuel efficiency and a 90 percent reduction in particulate matter. Here in California, one community is doing just that. The Napa Valley Unified School District took delivery of the first plug-in electric diesel hybrid school bus in the nation last year, a feat made possible by Sdvanced Energy and IC Corporation, who are making and triumphing the benefits of thes "green" yellow buses
Posted by: MattKelly | Jun 2, 2008 12:08:19 PM
