Danish hybrid bus for US
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A HYBRID-DRIVE system for city buses, incorporating hydraulic energy recuperation and storage, has been developed by the Technical University of Copenhagen with the collaboration of HT — the Greater Copenhagen Passenger Transport Authority.
Fitted to an underfloorengined Leyland-DAB bus, the new system has completed trial; in which fuel savings of 25 to 30 per cent were recorded.
The US Department of Transportation has now invited the designers of the novel drive system to demonstrate the vehicle in America. In the meantime the bus has been placed into regular service, on route 43 of the HT system, as part of a long-term evaluation programme.
The system used is similar to the MAN-Rexroth scheme applied to a double-decker developed for Berlin which was briefly described at the recent European Conference on Hydrostatic Transmissions held at,the University of Warwick.
High-pressure accumulators are used to absorb braking energy. This is subsequently used to accelerate the bus to approximately 25km/h before the diesel engine again takes over via the composite hydrostatic/mechanical transmission.