Optima Awarded First Contract for ISE Series Hybrid Low-floor Bus
16 May 2006
The Optima Opus Series-Hybrid |
Optima Bus Corporation has been awarded the first contract for its Opus ISE Series Hybrid Low-floor Bus. The contract, from Town of Avon (CO) Transit, is valued at approximately $7.5 million.
Avon Transit has ordered five Opus diesel-electric series-hybrid buses with an option for an additional ten. The hybrid-electric Opus will be the first hybrid transit vehicle that the resort town has operated.
Avon wants to be a leader in protecting the environment and lowering our dependence on fossil fuels. The series system has a significant weight savings and the maintenance costs will be lower.
—Dan Higgins, Fleet Manager for the Town of Avon
The Opus Hybrid brings the ISE-Siemens series-hybrid powertrain to the under 35' and 30' class of buses, and is projected to reduce fuel consumption (and associated emissions) by up to 50%, depending upon the route and driving patterns.
The diesel hybrid system combines a Siemens ELFA electric drive system with a 6-cylinder, 5.9-liter Cummins ISB 260 hp (194 kW) engine, integrated and controlled by the ISE ThunderCan hybrid control system. Storage is provided by dual ISE/Maxwell ultracapacitor packs. Dual 85 kW electric drive motors provide 200 Nm of rated torque each.
The ISE ThunderVolt diesel hybrid system has been certified at 1.8g/hp-hr NOx, 0.01g PM, and 15.5g CO, making it the lowest emission diesel drive system of any type for 30-, 40- and 60-foot buses, according to Optima.
I would like to buy a V6 diesel electric hybrid engine for my Toyota sienna.
please help
Roger Lamothe
786-281-9625
Posted by: Roger Lamothe | 20 May 2006 at 06:36 PM
Mike, there was an earlier post about this specific bus on gcc, namely http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/12/opus_diesel_ser.html . were there any others? just that it would be nice to have one of those (earlier post) links here linking to those older entries.
Posted by: lensovet | 22 May 2006 at 11:06 AM