New Chinese electric bus boasts 186-mile range
While we have a pretty impressive electric bus here in America, an announcement that a Chinese joint venture will begin building buses with a 300 km (186 miles) range certainly got our attention. The FAW Bus and Coach Company has teamed up with battery maker Tongkun New Energy Technologies Co., Ltd and plan to have their people-carriers on the roads around two different cities in Jilin province by June. They already have 70 on the order book and if they can deliver the range performance promised, we expect they'll sell more.The 24 passenger bus can not only go far on its lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries but it can also re-charge them in as little as 20 minutes. With a useful life of 2,000 cycles, they could last 300,000 miles. Not bad for a bus with a 500,000 yuan ($73,145) price tag and low running costs. Hopefully the new design will also be a little easier on the eyes than the current baby bus built by FAW, pictured above.
[Source: Xinhua]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
luc 9:39AM (2/21/2009)
It's actually cute, for a bus, if you change the weird color.
Looks like something Barbie would drive.
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Domenick Yoney 10:14AM (2/21/2009)
Keep in mind that this isn't the actual electric bus but rather a previously-existing model. There were no photos or sketches yet available of the new design.
Rich 10:52AM (2/21/2009)
And it's cheaper than a Tesla!
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jharlan 11:42AM (2/21/2009)
The range is impressive, if they can deliver as advertised.
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Bill 4:09PM (2/21/2009)
I'd like to see some independent testing before I believe the claims for these Chinese miracle batteries.
300km range, 20 minute recharge, in a heavy bus costing less than $75,000?
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Herm 9:03PM (2/21/2009)
LifePo batteries will do 20 minute recharges, A123 can do 12 minute recharges.. if you have the power available of course. They could also mean a partial recharge at each bus stop.
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Curt 10:26PM (2/21/2009)
An electric bus can be recharged during the drivers break or lunch.
A small bus would be nice.
In my area there are some routes that don't have many riders. So the local county transit agency is using large vans to transport people instead of using a huge bus that is practically empty.
If the Chinese could extend the range of this bus, it could be used as the model for an electric RV. Why type of mileage does the typical RV get these days ? 10-11MPG ?
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DTD 9:24AM (3/04/2009)
The Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) battery is the answer to successful implementation of electric vehicles. Over 100 years ago Thomas Edison was playing around with nickel iron batteries. Experience has since shown that nickel iron batteries are extremely robust. They can take a wide range of heavy duty abuse. The only problem is that they don't retain charge very well. Today's LiFePo4 batteries such as the ones made by BYD and A123 Systems have solved both the durability and charge retaintion problems. The last hurdle to overcome is cost. On the cost issue, BYD is the current indisputable industry leader. This is why Warren Buffett has bought 10% of BYD.
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