Daimler Buses NA tops 3,000 hybrid bus orders
Hybrid buses are becoming an increasingly common sight in cities around North America and Daimler has grabbed the largest share of the market. Daimler Bus North America has now received orders for over 3,000 of its Orion VII hybrid buses. Over 2,200 of the Orions are already in service, with the single largest population in the New York City area. There, over 1,250 units are prowling the streets.
The Orion VII uses a series hybrid drivetrain developed by BAE systems. Since 2008, the Orions have been using lithium ion battery packs in place of the original nickel metal hydride packs. In a set-up somewhat similar to the Chevy Volt, a Cummins diesel engine drives a generator and the wheels are driven by the electric motor. Unlike conventional buses, the series hybrid has no transmission, eliminating a major maintenance item. The Daimler press release is after the jump.
[Source: Daimler]
PRESS RELEASE:
3,000 Hybrid Buses: Daimler Buses North America Reaches Sales Milestone Oriskany, USA
Sep 07, 2009
Oriskany, USA - Last week, Daimler Buses North America announced that sales for the Orion VII diesel-electric hybrid bus had surpassed 3,000 units. In other words, Daimler Buses has sold more hybrid drives than any other manufacturer in the world. The announcement was made in Oriskany, where the Orion VII hybrid buses are manufactured. Over 2,200 of the Orion VII hybrid buses are already in service, with an additional 850 firm orders on the books from cities such as New York City, Seattle, Houston, and Ottawa, as well as from Puerto Rico.
"Daimler remains committed to leading the hybrid bus market worldwide, and our subsequent orders in North America is evidence of the confidence our customers have in our buses and coaches with alternative drives," said Hartmut Schick, head of Daimler Buses. "Being the leader is a responsibility that we take seriously and remain committed to delivering leading edge and reliable products for our customers."
The transport company Houston Metro is placing an additional order for 80 Orion VII diesel-electric hybrid buses for delivery in 2010. This year, another 40 buses will be delivered.
Another long-term customer of Daimler Buses North America is the mass transit authority of Puerto Rico, which is extending its existing fleet of conventional Orion diesel transit buses to include hybrid buses. The authority ordered 40 Orion VII diesel-electric hybrid buses, which will be produced and delivered in 2010.
"We are obviously pleased to be the first manufacturer of hybrid buses to reach the 3,000 unit mark, but we will not rest on our laurels," said Dr. Andreas Strecker, president and CEO of Daimler Buses North America. "The technology is advancing quickly, and it is very important for Daimler Buses to remain ahead of the curve in this industry."
Orion began development and production of hybrid buses in the mid-1990s with pilot vehicles first deployed in New York City. While the Orion VII hybrid bus can be seen across North America, New York City is where you'll find the most units in operation. There are already over 1,250 Orion VII hybrids in the New York metropolitan area. What's more, another 425 units are to be delivered over the next nine months, making New York City Transit the largest hybrid fleet in the world.
Series production of the Orion VII began in the early 2000s, and Daimler Buses has since grown to become the world leader for hybrid buses. With the introduction of lithium-ion energy storage technology for buses in volume production in 2008, Orion further underlined its reputation for innovation. This development has reduced the weight of the overall bus and thereby further improving fuel economy. Daimler Buses is currently developing and testing further refinements to the hybrid system that will be introduced in 2010. These technological advancements will offer even greater benefits to our customers and passengers.
The heart of the Orion VII diesel-electric hybrid bus is the HybriDrive propulsion system manufactured by BAE Systems of Johnson City, NY. The bus is powered by a 6.7-liter diesel engine from Cummins, a generator, an electric motor, and a lithium-ion energy storage system. The components are arranged in series and were optimized and configured especially for the Orion VII. The diesel engine, for example, is optimized to run at relatively constant speeds. Acceleration and deceleration are accomplished by varying the speed of the electric motor rather than the diesel engine. This results in maximum efficiency, fuel economy, and clean operation.
Another feature of the Orion VII hybrid is the regenerative braking system that uses the electric drive motor to slow the bus, effectively turning the motor into a powerful generator to help recharge the bus batteries. This feature saves energy and significantly reduces brake wear. The series hybrid design also eliminates the need for a mechanical transmission, which means no transmission overhauls - a major maintenance item for conventional buses.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
wincros 11:22AM (9/08/2009)
Hmm. Where is GM? They killed electric light rail in every major American city so they could sell buses. What goes around comes around I guess.
Reply
why not the LS2LS7? 11:35AM (9/08/2009)
Sometimes the truth isn't as exciting as a good conspiracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_streetcar_scandal
GM's two mode hybrid system has been shipped in at least 2700 buses (as of 2008), so it's been pretty successful too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Hybrid_Cooperation
wincros 1:09PM (9/08/2009)
Well, obviously, you did not read your own reference.
"National, which had been in operation since 1920, was organized into a holding company, and General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, Phillips Petroleum, Mack, and the Federal Engineering Corporation made investments in the City Lines companies in return for exclusive supply contracts.[1] Between 1936 and 1950, National City Lines bought out more than 100 electric surface-traction systems in 45 cities,[2] including Detroit, New York City, Oakland, Philadelphia, Phoenix, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Tulsa, Baltimore, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles, and replaced them with GM buses. American City Lines merged with National in 1946.[1]"
Frequently conspiracies are real especially if it involves corporations, money and power.
why not the LS2LS7? 1:28PM (9/08/2009)
I did read my own reference. It mentions how the biggest problem faced by the rails was the government didn't allow them to be bundled into utilities anymore, so they couldn't get subsidized electricity anymore. And it also mentions at the bottom how street cars went away in droves in Europe too, where GM could not possibly be at fault.
'Even when the sale of a transit system was not forced, declining revenue – particularly in the Great Depression – left many streetcar systems short of funds for maintenance and capital improvements, and available for purchase. The newly independent lines, no longer associated with an electric utility holding company, had to purchase electricity at full price from their former parents, further shaving their already thin margins.'
'Robert C. Post wrote that "nationwide, the ultimate reach of the alleged conspirators extended to only about 10 percent of all transit systems—sixty-odd out of some six hundred—and yet virtually all the other 90 percent also got rid of trolleys (as happened with all the tramcar systems in the British Isles and France).'
GoodCheer 3:20PM (9/08/2009)
ls:
While saying 10% vs 90% is pretty suggestive, you must admit that if you have systems in
"Detroit, New York City, Oakland, Philadelphia, Phoenix, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Tulsa, Baltimore, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles,"
it would be hard to put together a competing list of cities that would have 9 times the population or geographical size or economic power of that list (of just 11 of the 45 cities where National had interests).
I'm perfectly willing to admit that urban transit requires a threshhold of size/population density/population to be viable, and the mini-deregulation of electric utilities may have made them unprofitable in smaller cities. But again, the issue that conditions "left many streetcar systems short of funds for maintenance and capital improvements", is hard to compare with the funding for urban and suburban streets, which buses and car drivers do not necessarily fully pay for (even in the instances where fuel tax pays for upkeep, nobody pays real estate tax for the streets).
The argument that "It also happened in Europe" is also odd, since Europe (by and large) has great public transit. Just because one transit system (of about 4) failed does not make for very convincing evidence.
why not the LS2LS7? 3:54PM (9/08/2009)
GoodCheer:
I completely agree with you about the buses being cheaper to run because they don't have to maintain their own rights of way. Instead the city does it. And how that helped do in the trolleys. But how does this tie into evil GM?
Also, your list is a bit odd. In the period spoken of (1920s/1930s) the combined economic power of SLC and Phoenix was diddlysquat. Phoenix had 29,000 people! There were plenty far more powerful and populated cities than Phoenix!
As to the Europe thing, when's the last time you rode a trolley in Britain or France? Europe has good mass transit in cities, but in these two countries, trolleys are gone and have been for a long time. GM at work?
Stan Peterson 4:36PM (9/08/2009)
Ah I see the another leftist myth and familiar baloney of conspiracy, but little truth, is expressed once again.
FYI the Allison dual-mode hybrid developed by GM's bus division is doing extremely well in the thousands of hybrid buses they are selling too. GM's rail car division has fallen on hard times though; it second leading position in rail car manufacture, and first position in electric locomotive manufacture has lost business and GM sold it recently. As apparently GM's efforts to destroy its own division's markets, by somehow ripping up track, worked, and killed its own business..
So you do you leftist idiot clowns, ever check out your leftist fables; or just swallow them whole; hook, line and sinker? Next you'll tell me that all those people Solzhenitsyn described, just happily volunteered to do state labor in Siberian Gulags out of enthusiasm for the latest 5 year Plan?
GoodCheer 11:24AM (9/10/2009)
WhyNot: Perhaps you infer meaning in my comment that I did not intend. I do not asset any organization is Evil, companies simply respond to the conditions they see, and try to expand their market and profits. There are those that claim "The Streetcar Conspiracy" should not have been allowed under the laws of the day. I know next to nothing about legal history, so I cannot comment. I do however assert that the absence of effective public transportation in much of America is a poor metric by which to ascertain its viability, and that today's conditions were arrived at 'artificially' in the sense of not simply being the consequence of fully informed consumer choice.
Let's review what is a matter of public record:
A rubber tire company and a couple of oil companies (with other partners) invested in a streetcar holding company in return for exclusive supply contracts. Streetcars were powered with electricity (not petroleum), and ran on steel wheels (not rubber).
Why on earth would they do that, what could they have intended to supply, if that investment was not for the express purpose of destroying the streetcars?
(The list of cities I gave, by the way, was simply copied out of the wiki article you cited. I didn't mean to suggest that all of those cities were good examples of huge metropolises, though clearly most of them were.)
Also, thank you for your civil tone.
why not the LS2LS7? 11:25AM (9/08/2009)
This sounds great. How much fuel does it save?
They need to get this system into garbage trucks. It kills me every week to hear the garbage truck accelerate near full bore for 45 feet, hammer the brakes, pick up a can, then repeat over and over all around the neighborhood.
How heavy is the battery pack in this vehicle that changing it to LIon makes a noticeable difference? It's not like frame of the bus is light.
Reply
Boyprodigy1 12:06PM (9/08/2009)
No kidding. Pretty much all public service vehicles would benefit from hybrid systems. Trash trucks could probably recoup a lot of energy from regenerative braking...
Serge 12:28PM (9/08/2009)
Supposedly 35% better fuel economy over a diesel model.
http://www.orionbus.com/orion/0-867-1232397-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html
Chris M 9:45PM (9/08/2009)
There is some R & D on using hydraulic hybrids for garbage trucks, precisely for the reason you stated. While a hydraulic hybrid system doesn't store as much energy as batteries could, it has excellent reliability and cycle count, and fits in well with all the other hydraulic devices already in use on such vehicles.
!!D 2:19PM (9/08/2009)
FY'all'sI: that's the Houston Metro color scheme in the photo. Houston skyline, too; you can tell because it's normally that fuzzy.
Reply
Evan 2:20PM (9/08/2009)
My city had "Orion III" buses and they seemed to be always breaking down and were the first to rust out. They still kept old GM "New Look" buses up and running after they retired all the Orion buses!
Reply
Stan Peterson 4:58PM (9/08/2009)
The dual mode increases bus mileage spectacularly. It goes up to almost 2 mpg. That is a substantial improvement.
Why with only as few as 12-15 bus-riders, it approaches the mileage that a single driver in a hybrid Subruban achieves. No longer does it take a full 40 passengers to approach the mileage and fuel economy achieved by the single Driver in his regular, non-hybrid Suburban.
Unfortuantely the cost of the paid driver has not been covered yet, nor the capital cost of the equipment, nor the extra distance for passengers to get where they wish to go, nor the cost of deadheading, nor the cost of maintaining routes in largely empty buses, just to provide a service in odd hours, should anyone want it....
But then isn't it grand that we have the efficency of Mass transit.
Reply
Chris M 9:54PM (9/08/2009)
Yes, mass transit is all run by local governments, highly subsidized by local taxes, as a charity for those who can't drive or can't afford a car, and as emergency transport for those whose cars have broken down.
Now, if we had a public transit system that was much more efficient, automated to reduce labor costs, that was available 24/7, would be easy to use, take customers direct to their destination non-stop, and would never require long waits, we'd have a system that would pay its way, perhaps even produce a profit! PRT could be the answer. See:
http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/prtquick.htm
for a brief overview.
GoodCheer 11:31AM (9/11/2009)
Chris, don't forget that public transit is also a charity for those who CAN afford cars and do choose to drive them. Without the buses and trains, there would be that many more cars clogging up the streets, slowing everybody down that much more.