X auf a7 .0 )0cci by Bill Godwin
Page 36
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lew technology at French ransport Expo
kNISPORT EXPO 84, to be I in Paris in May 1984, will be fifth of a series of specialist ws dealing exclusively with latest equipment and new mology in surface transport lications.
le exhibition will be a main tributor to the international sport and traffic week, which also include Intercirculation traffic control, signalling and rty equipment) and Eclairex, iique exhibition of the latest Teet lighting and associated Jucts.
-ansport Expo, which is open rofessional visitors only, will ccompanied by a series of ferences with papers ranging innovation in urban
sport to energy saving in vehicle operation.
thibitors are again expected -I most European countries the US, and several sufacturers will be revealing ortant advances in psv ineering.
ench developments acted to be shown in public he first time include an '9y-recuperating vehicle smission system developed IVI under the so-called ach programme, and a otype of the new French rd city bus.
us bus is a 12m vehicle with sr-mounted transverse ,er unit, running on lowile tyres. Floor height is only n and the mechanical ;ification includes brakes an unusual twin-disk Iguration.
number of RVI buses of this will go into proving service 'ench cities later in 1984 and expected that full-scale suction will begin in 1986. 'ent needs of the French iestic city bus market are for Ind 1,500 units each year, of ;h RVI claims an 80 per cent -e, but it is hoped that the R 312 model will also turn
out to be an export winner.
An articulated version may be added to the new bus programme at a later stage but it is emphasised that current PR 100 and PR 180 models are being retained in the company's programme.
RVI has also been planning a Megabus concept rather on the lines of the three-section MAN and Mercedes-Benz experimental vehicles but no decision has so far been taken as to the final design.
Of rather greater importance will be the release of details, also expected at Transport Expo, of a novel Nickel-Cadmium battery for traction purposes, which it is hoped to incorporate into a dualpower hybrid psv.
Surprisingly, French philosophy here runs counter to extensive German experience with battery-powered buses, which have probably covered more mileage there than anywhere else in the world.
German operation of such vehicles is not to be continued and it is expected that the battery buses stilll in use in Stuttgart, Wesel, and Dusseldorf will be phased out by mid-1984.
Further details of Transport Expo 84 (May 15-19) may be obtained from French Trade Exhibitions, 54, Conduit Street, London, W1.