Bigger-scale trials on electric, hybrid buses
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Bigger-scale trials on electric, hybrid buses to be held in next few years
Following “encouraging” feedback from earlier tests, the Government will rev up its trials on electric and hybrid buses, and three bus services will be served wholly by electric buses, Second Transport Minister Ng Chee Meng announced in Parliament on Wednesday (March 8).
Bigger-scale trials will be mounted in the next few years, and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will call tenders to procure 60 electric buses and 50 hybrid ones this year, he added.
These trials will allow a deeper understanding of the operational challenges that a wider deployment of such buses may bring, under local weather and traffic conditions, the LTA said in a press statement.
While carrying a higher price tag, these buses are less pollutive and make for a more comfortable ride for bus captains and commuters.
The outcomes of the trials will be used to calibrate the approach towards adopting buses that run on alternative energy sources, the LTA added.
Mr Ng said that the Republic has already been shifting towards a more environmentally-friendly fleet, with models that meet tighter emission standards. “But no emission is better than low emissions,” he noted.
As part of a continuing trial involving Go-Ahead Singapore, China-based automaker BYD and its local distributor S Dreams, an electric K9 bus had been trialled on Service 17 and is being tested on Service 119 now, with “encouraging” initial feedback. In 2015, SBS Transit and Volvo also conducted a diesel-hybrid bus trial.
Meanwhile, the Republic is pressing on with other efforts on the electric vehicle front. Last September, HDT Singapore Taxis made its foray with the country’s first fully electric fleet of cabs. It will roll out 100 electric cabs progressively by the middle of this year in an eight-year trial.By 2020, 1,000 shared electric vehicles will also fan out across all Housing and Development Board towns, as part of a car-sharing initiative announced last June.
BlueSG, a subsidiary of the Bollore Group, which runs the world’s largest fully electric car-sharing programme, will develop and operate the 10-year programme. The first stable of 125 electric vehicles and 250 charging points will be rolled out by the second half of this year.
Meanwhile, the installation of the common fleet management system across the Republic’s bus network will be completed by this month. It gives operators live updates on the location of each bus and arrival times, among other things, raising the efficiency of operations.
As for self-driving vehicles, trials began at one-north in 2015 and four organisations are testing the vehicles there now. Efforts are also under way to develop self-driving buses.
Other efforts include agreements inked in January between the Transport Ministry and PSA Corporation, and automotive firms Scania and Toyota Tsusho, to develop and test solutions for autonomous truck platooning. This involves a manned truck leading a convoy of driverless ones that will transport containers from one port terminal to another.
The authorities also announced last October that they were exploring how to develop self-driving multipurpose utility vehicles that could be designed for purposes such as road sweeping.
Along with truck platooning, this is expected to cut the need for manpower and free road space during peak hours by deploying these autonomous systems at night, for instance.
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More BYDs to come.. Hope they come with sliding doors and charging ports
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This is a proper bus to replace VSO and Dennis Trident.
Dennis Tridents are retiring in 2020. VSO is retiring in 2023.
The last Volvo Olympian 3-Axle is retiring in 24 December 2017, barring exceptional circumstances. Last O405G to be retired by 2019, the last bendy buses will only be relying on Choa Chu Kang and Woodlands Feeders.
VSO and Dennis Trident are wheelchair-accessible bus, but they are not meant for open prams and strollers.
Put it on service 31.
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Originally posted by TPS Timothy Mok:
This is a proper bus to replace VSO and Dennis Trident.
Dennis Tridents are retiring in 2020. VSO is retiring in 2023.
The last Volvo Olympian 3-Axle is retiring in 24 December 2017, barring exceptional circumstances. Last O405G to be retired by 2019, the last bendy buses will only be relying on Choa Chu Kang and Woodlands Feeders.
VSO and Dennis Trident are wheelchair-accessible bus, but they are not meant for open prams and strollers.
Put it on service 31.
Maybe the ADL E500H will replace them?
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Originally posted by SMB128B:
Maybe the ADL E500H will replace them?
What if Volvo Hybrid DD with sliding doors🤣🤣
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Originally posted by carbikebus:
What if Volvo Hybrid DD with sliding doors🤣🤣
It could be the B8LH.. But that depends on whether Volvo makes one in the first place.. Now only got B5TLH but is 10.5m
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Wonder what are the 3 services?
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Originally posted by Sbs6750E:
Wonder what are the 3 services?
Maybe 84, 284 and 882.. Hehe
Just nice 3 diff operators
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LTA go and Buy MAN Lion City Hybrid .
MAN hybrid is actual A21/A22 chassis with a underpowered engine
Synchronous generator: 150 kW
2 asynchronous motors: 2 x 75 kWFuel Diesel Output 250 HP diesel engine at 2,300 rpm Ultracapacitor storage Max. 200 kW Just look at current A22 performance and u can determine what the Hybrid can do . Better mileage and less emissions while maintaining the same ride comfort as A22 .
Full electric option for me will be Volvo 7900 hybrid .
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975 can have them. Also, I would like to see a low emission zone trial in the CBD.
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Originally posted by Formususeonly:
LTA go and Buy MAN Lion City Hybrid .
MAN hybrid is actual A21/A22 chassis with a underpowered engine
Synchronous generator: 150 kW
2 asynchronous motors: 2 x 75 kW Fuel Diesel Output 250 HP diesel engine at 2,300 rpm Ultracapacitor storage Max. 200 kWJust look at current A22 performance and u can determine what the Hybrid can do . Better mileage and less emissions while maintaining the same ride comfort as A22 .
Full electric option for me will be Volvo 7900 hybrid .
7900 is SD
Can use for trial, but not to replace Trident/VSO
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Originally posted by SMB128B:
7900 is SD
Can use for trial, but not to replace Trident/VSO
Replacement for those trident / super olympian is MAN A95 not some others . 122 unit is plenty enough to replace VSo/Trident
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Talking abt electric/hybrid/green buses, may someone enlighten me to why LTA has this sudden interest to get a considerable number of such buses to run on the road of Singapore? In the past there was a lot of trials and many went unsuccessful, and correct me if i'm wrong, the most successful "green" buses in Singapore is the Volvo B10BLE as of now becoz there is a production batch, but what challenges authorities faced last time (operating costs, refuelling etc?) and did they somehow overcome it recently and hence the move to get more?
Thanks in advance!
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Remember, Singapore aims to be a clean and green city. Garden city; 花å›åŸŽå¸‚.
To have cleaner air, one way is to cut down carbon emission. (The other is to ban smoking)
Since electric / hybrid buses generate minimal carbon emission, it is of Singapore's interest of becoming a garden city, to invest in electric / hybrid buses.
Gotta say, ever since the government ban smoking at shopping malls, all the smoking moved to the residential areas. As a result, I have been "smoking" "second hand cigarettes" for about one year now...
It's time to make our environment healthy again!
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Originally posted by CZT:
Talking abt electric/hybrid/green buses, may someone enlighten me to why LTA has this sudden interest to get a considerable number of such buses to run on the road of Singapore? In the past there was a lot of trials and many went unsuccessful, and correct me if i'm wrong, the most successful "green" buses in Singapore is the Volvo B10BLE as of now becoz there is a production batch, but what challenges authorities faced last time (operating costs, refuelling etc?) and did they somehow overcome it recently and hence the move to get more?
Thanks in advance!
This might not be relevant in the first place, but from what I heard, almost every city in China is buying electric and hybrid buses like crazy due to heavy subsidies from the government implemented recently. Maybe Singapore's case is somehow related to the increasing popularity of electric buses there?
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Originally posted by SMB128B:
Maybe 84, 284 and 882.. Hehe
Just nice 3 diff operators
Better put on a high loading route for trial IMO... So that LTA/PTOs won't suddenly find electric buses unable to cope with heavy loads.
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I'm gonna clarify this. Unlike the usual trials, the SBS 8002 T Volvo B5RLEH Trial wasn't started by SBS Transit or LTA, it was by Volvo Buses. It wasn't a trial to test future fleet plans, rather to test Volvo's Hybrid System capability to operate in conditions in Singapore. Some many people thought the trial failed. But it wasn't meant to succeed or fail. If there are orders for B5RLEH, it is merely interest from LTA based on the results.
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Still confused? The whole point of the trial was to test Volvo's Hybrid System, not to test whether Volvo Hybrid Buses are suitable for fleet replacement and expansion.
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Originally posted by array88:
Better put on a high loading route for trial IMO... So that LTA/PTOs won't suddenly find electric buses unable to cope with heavy loads.
True, but should start with off peak periods first e.g. Sundays, or can try PM peak where commuters do not have a time limit to meet
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Originally posted by CZT:
Talking abt electric/hybrid/green buses, may someone enlighten me to why LTA has this sudden interest to get a considerable number of such buses to run on the road of Singapore? In the past there was a lot of trials and many went unsuccessful, and correct me if i'm wrong, the most successful "green" buses in Singapore is the Volvo B10BLE as of now becoz there is a production batch, but what challenges authorities faced last time (operating costs, refuelling etc?) and did they somehow overcome it recently and hence the move to get more?
Thanks in advance!
I also wonder why LTA would suddenly be interested in hybrid buses again.
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Originally posted by sgbuses:
I also wonder why LTA would suddenly be interested in hybrid buses again.
I think the Hybrid bus lobbyists power
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Originally posted by array88:
This might not be relevant in the first place, but from what I heard, almost every city in China is buying electric and hybrid buses like crazy due to heavy subsidies from the government implemented recently. Maybe Singapore's case is somehow related to the increasing popularity of electric buses there?
Likely considering that Chinese electric vehicles are cheaper than US / Japanese / European ones, esp. as they are mass produced in greater quantities. The Chinese provincial authorities must be facing governmental and public pressure to reduce pollution / carbon footprint of some sorts
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Originally posted by array88:
Better put on a high loading route for trial IMO... So that LTA/PTOs won't suddenly find electric buses unable to cope with heavy loads.
Agreed,That BYD got a few problems doing 17 and now seldom doing 119
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so when they gonna buy the 50 hybrid bus any idea?
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I really hope they can consider ADL Enviro500 Hybrid..��