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Volvo BlOL gets on down

9th June 1994, Page 16
9th June 1994
Page 16
Page 16, 9th June 1994 — Volvo BlOL gets on down
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by Noel MiIlier

• Volvo has entered the booming ultra-low-floor city bus market with the BIOL.

This rear-engined 12m city bus underframe is designed to be integrated with bodywork work to form a single-deck bus with a single 290mm step to a floor which slopes slightly to the rear.

The chassis will be supplied to bodybuilders in "transporter" form to be cut into the front and rear modules. The front module features independent air suspension with bellows mounted high on each side; the rear suspension is more conventional with two bellows per wheel. ECS electronic control incoporates kneeling and lowering.

The front suspension is derived from the design fitted and proven in the 1970s Leyland Titan double-decker.

Interior space is also increased by using air operated disc brakes which are lighter and narrower than conventional drum brakes to give more room between the the wheel arches. Conventional Z-cam type air operated drum brakes are used at the rear.

Sheet-steel wheel arches contribute to the strength of the completed bus structure; the instrument panel is common with Volvo's BIOM and BIOB buses and coaches.

The bus is powered by a THD104 horizontal longitudinally mounted 9.6-litre engine offset to the nearside to allow left-hand-drive hoses to be fitted with an exit door behind the rear axle.

Rear aisle height is kept down by using a "portal" type axle with its centre 156 mm lower than the centre of the wheels and with the differential offset to the near side.

Like the BIOM and BIOB the BIOL the charge-cooled engine has a dry sump and meets Euro-2. It is available in 241 and 281hp (180 and 210kW).

The choice of fully automatic gearboxes with "intelligent" control systems includes four or five-speed ZF HP500/9590 units or the threespeed Voith D 863. They all have integral retarders and are available with NBS systems which select neutral when the hand brake is applied.

Prototype buses have been bodied by Volvoowned Swedish bodybuilder Saffle, Dutch bodybuilder Berkoff and Austrian bodybuilder Steyr.

The chassis layout allows for wheelbases of up to 6.0m and the modules can be incorporated into pusher articulated bus designs. The ultra low design allows the bodybuilder some choice in locating fuel tanks, which can be plastic. On the Saffle design they are mounted behind the front wheel arches.

To overcome the limited space under the low frame air tanks can be fitted in the body roof coving. Batteries are accommodated under the driver's seat which is mounted high enough to put the driver eye to eye with his passengers as they board the bus, Four prototype buses are in

service with bus operators in Sheffield, Goteborg, Vienna and Maastricht. CM has been able to assess the Steyr-bodied model in Sweden.

It is lively, quiet and stable with exceptional driving comfort, light and precise steering and a smooth gear change.

Production is due to start in January at the Volvo Bus plant in Boras, South Sweden, but the BlOL was designed in Britain by the Volvo bus design team based at the former Leyland Bus plant in Faringdon, Lancs. Some 500 units are expected to be produced during the first year of production.

The first right-hand-drive prototype is already in service in Sheffield. It has Swedish Saffle bodywork, but a British bodybuilder will be be appointed soon.

Volvo has licenced the Xian Aircraft Company in China to build its BIOM coach chassis using an aluminium body developed by Volvo subsidiary Saffle karosseri AB B101\4 production in China is due to start in September; the coaches are expected to be sold throughout China and the Far East by the joint venture company Xian Silver Bus Corporation.

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