Foton hybrid bus.

Beiqi Foton Bus Company and Eaton delivered the 30 hybrid diesel-electric transit buses to Guangzhou Yiqi Bus on 11 January. The 30 buses will be deployed to carry passengers in the city, with an expected fuel savings of up to 27%, along with similar reductions in particulate and nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions.

Guangzhou Yiqi operates approximately half of the transit buses in Guangzhou, a city of 12 million people in China’s Guangdong province. Beiqi Foton Bus, one of China’s leading commercial vehicle makers, first brought Eaton’s hybrid power system to China in two prototype buses that were developed and deployed for testing in 2006. (Earlier post.)

Eaton is developing both hybrid electric and hybrid hydraulic technologies for a variety of commercial vehicle applications. Both hybrid technologies use dual power sources to capture and store regenerative energy, as well as providing traction power to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.

Eaton’s hybrid electric technology is being used in the United States by companies such as FedEx, UPS, Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, and in Europe by DAF Trucks and Daimler Trucks. Eaton plans to commercialize its parallel hybrid hydraulic technology, called the Eaton HLA system, in 2008 in refuse trucks, and other applications will follow. Eaton is also working with the US EPA and other partners to develop a series hybrid hydraulic drivetrain that has demonstrated 50-70% better fuel economy in a package delivery vehicle.