New Flyer completes 1,150 mile in-service demonstration of the Xcelsior battery-electric bus for Miami-Dade Transit
04 February 2016
New Flyer of America, a subsidiary of New Flyer Industries, the leading manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses and motor coaches in the United States and Canada, has completed a two-week in-service demonstration with Miami-Dade Transit of the New Flyer Xcelsior heavy-duty battery-electric XE40 transit bus.
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The two-week demonstration, concluded on 21 January, resulted in more than 1,150 in-service miles and more than 1,800 passenger rides on 11 different service routes throughout Miami-Dade County.
New Flyer provided Miami-Dade Transit performance reports from New Flyer Connect, a combination of onboard telematics systems used to gauge and manage operational efficiency. Using the Connect system, the New Flyer Xcelsior XE40 battery-electric bus reported up to 23.8 diesel equivalent miles per gallon in energy consumption (equating to 1.6 kWh per mile).
Miami-Dade Transit provides service from Miami Beach and Key Biscayne to West Miami-Dade, as far north as Broward County and as far south as Homestead, Florida City and the Middle Keys. Miami-Dade Transit is the 15th largest public transit system in the USA, and the largest transit agency in the state of Florida.
The Xcelsior battery-electric bus features a Siemens electric drive system and proven electric subsystems with electric drive motor technology permitting the bus to reduce the energy consumed while driving, and increase the energy recovered during braking.
The world needs many (100,000+) more of those e-buses. More sources the better to achieve the ultimate goal faster. Improved lower cost batteries together with an on-board FC will help.
Posted by: HarveyD | 04 February 2016 at 08:38 AM
Buses that travel relatively slow inner city routes should be able to become autonomous or perhaps piloted remotely from a command center. If that becomes possible it may make more sense to have smaller and more frequent service which in turn would make the buses more convenient for many commuters.
Posted by: Calgarygary | 04 February 2016 at 11:04 AM
I fully agree with CGG. A larger fleet of much smaller (20-passenger) autonomous drive e-buses would be a lot more flexible than current 60+ passenger units.
Smaller e-buses could be attached as a train to better serve higher demands during rush hours and/or increase the number to meet higher passenger demands.
The idea would be to use the right passenger capacity on a 24/7 basis, without having to manage costly unionized drivers and reduce energy used with smaller buses on an as required basis.
Of course, every e-bus stop would clearly indicate real time corrected bus schedule 24/7. People in a rush could call UBER X, when required.
Posted by: HarveyD | 04 February 2016 at 02:07 PM
Costly unionized drivers are not the issue, as many elderly and part-timers are pulled into service, from what I observe. And who will take your tickets and give you directions?
It would be interesting if Miami-Dade, Orlando, and other tourist havens just switched to electric self-guided rent-a-cars instead of buses and light rail.
Posted by: kalendjay | 04 February 2016 at 02:35 PM
Tickets have already been replaced in many places and $128,000/year unionized unshaved drivers cost more than the buses after very few years of full time operation.
I rode the Singapore systems for days with an automatic prepaid radio auto-read card. The unused portion was automatically refunded by a machine on my departure.
Smaller autonomous e-buses could be a free service, like automated elevators in large buildings. It could be another way to reduce GHG and pollution in large cities? Savings from the ex-drivers/maintainers salaries and management/administration and lower pollution cost would pay for most of it. Manufacturers could maintain the automated e-buses and the city computers could manage the e-bus fleet operation.
AAA/CAA could recuperate the rare failed units and tow them to appropriate service centre.
Posted by: HarveyD | 04 February 2016 at 06:35 PM
Smaller more numerous buses are good for the city and suburb. If you only wait 5 minutes for a bus, more people might use them. Eventually make them autonomous because a small city may have hundreds.
Posted by: SJC | 05 February 2016 at 05:23 PM
Yes, smaller autonomous e-units could collect suburban passengers to hub stations where they could continue downtown on trains, subways and/or large buses.
Many current large costly/noisy/polluting diesel buses could be retired.
Posted by: HarveyD | 08 February 2016 at 08:50 AM