GM Hybrid Buses Fall Far Short Of Promised Fuel Efficiency

[hatrack]

"Expensive new hybrid diesel-electric buses that were portrayed by King County Metro as "green" heroes that would use up to 40 percent less fuel than existing buses have fallen far short of that promise. In fact, at times, the New Flyer hybrid articulated buses have gotten worse mileage than the often-maligned 1989 dual-mode Breda buses they are replacing. Yet the hybrid buses cost $200,000 more each than a conventional articulated diesel bus.

In May of this year, when Metro held a public event to herald the arrival of the first of the new hybrid buses, County Executive Ron Sims said they would save 750,000 gallons of fuel a year over the Bredas. Metro was the first agency in the country to buy a 60-foot articulated bus with a hybrid diesel-electric technology. It ordered 235 of them, 213 for itself for $152 million and 22 for Sound Transit. Metro now has the largest fleet of hybrid buses in the world.

EDIT

Besides, the hybrids have their good points, Boon said. The hybrid fleet as a whole is saving $3 million a year in maintenance costs over the Bredas. And they're quieter than regular diesel buses and faster than the Bredas on hills and the highway. They also have very low emissions -- as do all the new buses Metro is buying these days, hybrid or not.

But the expected fuel efficiency has not been there. One apparent culprit is stricter federal emissions standards. Another could be that the hybrids are used on routes -- suburban express routes with more highway mileage -- where their advantages don't shine."

EDIT

http://www.mixedpower.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=270

Strangely enough, nowhere in this entire lengthy article does it mention that the buses were sold to Seattle by GM.

[midnight armadillo]

1. This sort of hybrid is optimized for city driving

Same with the Prius-type powertrain. At highway speeds both the gas & electric are running, so you don't save much gas.

At an extra $200k each, they seem to have wasted their money. They would have been better off with a standard diesel and a boatload of biodiesel instead.

Federal emissions standards aren't the culprit.

[theoceansnerves]

2. they run 1 or 2 here in orange county as well

they made a big deal about them when they bought them for the trial program- and there hasn't been a word about them since. i'm only speculating it could be related to this article.

they run about 50/50 lng and diesel. i don't know why they are bothering with the hybrids when they have the lngs.

[NNadir]

3. This is surprising and disappointing to me.

I really can't fault King County for experimenting with the technology though. Often failure is the best way to illuminate the path to success.

Nor can it be said that the project was in fact, a total failure. According to the article, emissions are reduced and this is no small matter. Also, as others have noted, the route selection is poor.

Also it would be unwise to extract too much information from this "failure." It seems that the hybrid is being operated over the road, but a hybrid's chief advantage is in heavy traffic.

Municipal fleets do represent some of the best opportunities for the introduction of alternative fuels, I note, touching on the point raised by another poster. It would be interesting to see carbon neutral fuels like biodiesel or, even better, dimethyl ether made from alternative carbon sources used in such a such a fleet.

[hatrack]

4. I'll agree, reducing emisssions is a step forward

It's just that the hype was thick at rollout, and now the silence is deafening. C'est la vie!