Volvo electric bus

[tonyp]

It looks like PTA WA is taking the plunge, but sensibly going to Europe. Maybe they'll beat Bustech's venture with a European bus onto the local market. Now we're getting serious and hopefully can leave the compromised Chinese junk behind. The Volvo should be full low-floor and that's what it says in this write-up:

https://www.busnews.com.au/industry-new ... wM83JZSUMA

[Merc1107]

I only hope the trial goes further than the Joondalup CAT routes. The CATs are self-contained with any concerns over range and on-road recharging easily dealt with versus regular services elsewhere; which can involve driver reliefs, limited downtime in the depot between shifts (when buses aren't required for wash or maintenance-related activities) and often fairly limited layover time throughout a shift.

[Enviro 500]

I wouldn't write off the Yutong E12 or the BYD K9 just like that, if I were you.

[Enviro 500]

I only hope the trial goes further than the Joondalup CAT routes. The CATs are self-contained with any concerns over range and on-road recharging easily dealt with versus regular services elsewhere; which can involve driver reliefs, limited downtime in the depot between shifts (when buses aren't required for wash or maintenance-related activities) and often fairly limited layover time throughout a shift.

Their biggest test would be the Circle Route, especially a full trip.

[tonyp]

I wouldn't write off the Yutong E12 or the BYD K9 just like that, if I were you.

I've ridden a range of electric buses and the Chinese ones are not the quality of the European ones. Between them though, the Yutong is better than the BYD imo, but I prefer the Europeans. The other issue now is that we should be avoiding Chinese products as much as possible.

[Bus Suggestions]

Their biggest test would be the Circle Route, especially a full trip.

I have not yet seen a Joondalup bus operate a CircleRoute, but I'm happy to be corrected. A good test for them would be a 389, testing long-distance medium-high speed running under some heavy loads during peak. A Whitfords/Warwick feeder can also inter-route with the 387/388 to the city as well. For true heavy load testing, however, school specials can do the trick. Even in the current situation, some are still running at close to full standing load (yes, people standing on the high-floor sections of the current buses!)

[eddy]

Evidently 395 kwh is like 40 litres of diesel.

Although a full electric bus has greater efficiency than diesel plus regenerative braking it uses a lot of power to keep warm where even a hybrid can use waste heat from the motor.

I think it would be best to use a hybrid or a six wheeler with bigger batteries for low demand and the Trailerbus for very high demand.

[tonyp]

Interesting feature on Volvo 7900 articulated electric bus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twESqwf ... e=emb_logo

[tonyp]

The Volvo BZL chassis has been formally released today. Here is some info:

https://www.volvobuses.com/content/dam/ ... _EN-AU.pdf

This is the chassis that Volgren is bodying for Perth. It's an 11.8 metre, 2.5 m wide chassis but Volvo say that the dimensions are flexible. It's a fully low-floor bus but the flat floor stops a little short of the rear (like the Volvo hybrids operating in Victoria) because they have a lot of equipment under the floor, rather than in a vertical cabinet at the rear. Maybe this is because of the 11.8 metre length. The motor is on the nearside, so there is no possibility of a third door behind the rear axle, rather remiss for a European chassis. Perhaps a 12.5 metre version might be a little better. The bus has the option of overnight and/or opportunity charging.

The chassis with the Volgren body was launched in Brisbane last night:

https://www.busnews.com.au/industry-new ... N2_V1f94iU

It's clearly a little poorer than the Custom Denning Element, but perhaps at this stage it's a little unfair to compare an 11.8 metre with a 12.5 metre. On the other side of the coin, it's superior to the Chinese buses currently being sold here.

[Merc1107]

It will certainly be a step ahead of the present crop of Diesel Volvos, which thanks to a Vertical Engine, result in passengers having to put their hiking boots on to reach the rear seats.

Oh, to be freed of the free back massage of the B7, and demented clatter of the B8. I never found engine noise objectionable (on the contrary!) until those came into the fold.

[Bus Suggestions]

Although the underfloor equipment and associated slightly elevated floor at the rear is a drawback, it's certainly still an improvement over the B8s. I'm not even particularly tall, yet I still manage to hit my head on the rear of them without being in a fully stood up position! It would be nice to see a vertical cabinet for the equipment to allow for the full floor and a third door in a rigid, however, as it stands, the BZL is an exciting addition to the Volvo Buses range, and an exciting addition to the fleet in Perth.

The announcement that the electric buses will also service some non-CAT northern suburbs routes is also personally exciting as a number of routes I regularly take are serviced by Joondalup depot, which means I may get to experience a ride on one of these, or at least take a few photos for myself. Some variety from the B8s currently taking the streets, and a step to both cleaner and innovative transport.

[tonyp]

The aisle trench seems to run through to at least the second last seat row, if not the last. We should see interior photos soon. So there's no real drawback to the design other than no provision for a future rear door. Custom Denning have said that they can do that.

The fully low floor option has been available even for diesel buses in Australia for many years (Iveco, Scania and MAN at least afaik), but there have been few takers. Agencies and operators here are not typically passenger-focused and pay little attention to the science of functionality of the bus as a passenger carrying vehicle. However, we can leave diesels behind us. What's disturbing now is that electric buses have absolutely no need for a high floor, but outdated low-entry (high floor at the back) electric buses have been creeping onto the market from China. At least Custom Denning's Element has an allied model now on the market with the Volvo and before too long the low-floor European Ebusco should appear here, so maybe operators will finally start to get a hint that there's a better design path.

[Enviro 500]

Although the underfloor equipment and associated slightly elevated floor at the rear is a drawback, it's certainly still an improvement over the B8s. I'm not even particularly tall, yet I still manage to hit my head on the rear of them without being in a fully stood up position! It would be nice to see a vertical cabinet for the equipment to allow for the full floor and a third door in a rigid, however, as it stands, the BZL is an exciting addition to the Volvo Buses range, and an exciting addition to the fleet in Perth.

The announcement that the electric buses will also service some non-CAT northern suburbs routes is also personally exciting as a number of routes I regularly take are serviced by Joondalup depot, which means I may get to experience a ride on one of these, or at least take a few photos for myself. Some variety from the B8s currently taking the streets, and a step to both cleaner and innovative transport.

If this trial with JL CATs is successful, I bet these vehicles will be used on the 555 and RAT1-4 could be reassigned to other duties or moved to Freo.

Another possibility would be Midland Shuttle.

[Bus-1809]

If this trial with JL CATs is successful, I bet these vehicles will be used on the 555 and RAT1-4 could be reassigned to other duties or moved to Freo.

Another possibility would be Midland Shuttle.

If you read between the lines 2139-2145 aren't too far off needing to come off the City CATS, meaning they could easily be used to replace 101-104 on the 555 and 114-116 on the Freo CATS.