NY Town Contracts Development of Plug-in Diesel-Electric Hybrid Bus
10 August 2005
The Town of North Hempstead, NY, has contracted with Odyne Corp. to build and to install the electric propulsion system on a 24-passenger diesel-electric plug-in hybrid bus.
North Hempstead will contribute $92,500 of the $150,000 price tag for the prototype, while Odyne and NYSERDA—the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority—will share the remaining costs.
The bus will be based on a standard Champion shuttle built on a GMC frame and is scheduled for delivery in February 2006, and will have an all-electric range of 20 miles.
Odyne also designed and integrated a similar plug-in hybrid bus system as part of a program initiated by the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA).
More details on the North Hempstead plug-in to come.
The plug-in hybrid bus will join the town’s seven electric vehicles used in the parks, eight compressed natural gas cars assigned to various town departments, and its seven Ford Escape SUV hybrids used by the animal shelter, building department, public safety and administrative services departments. (Earlier post.)
FTA:
This does not appear to be plug-in technology, it's like the Prius "stealth mode".A pity. It would have been great if the bus had been able to snag a quick jolt from e.g. overhead contacts at bus stops and then cruise the next mile or so with the sustainer off, or sit at a stop and run all its auxiliaries indefinitely without the engine. It would have done much more to reduce noise and fuel consumption.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 10 August 2005 at 11:38 AM
On a regularly scheduled bus route there are usually lay overs of 10 to 15 minutes at each end of the route. Plenty of time for a quick topping off of the battery many times each day. Bus routes are rarely over 20 miles and average speeds are about 15 mph. With lithium batteries the diesel engine would be unneccesary.
Posted by: tom | 10 August 2005 at 07:08 PM