Electric, Hydrogen & Hybrid Electric Buses in Ireland

d51984

The original seats in the 1997 city swifts were the worse. They were like rocks.

devnull

The most hardwearing seats are rarely the most comfortable and vice versa.

That being said the Civic V2 (without headrest) would not really be any less durable than the seat used as standard by Dublin Bus, which itself is not the most durable seat at the end of the day. The V3 with the headrest and better back support is overkill. V0 s the budget version without a full cushion base base and less padding.

Probably the most famous hard wearing seat is the Urban 90 with it's moulded hard wearing rock solid thick plastic which is so tightly moulded and solid that it made for an excellent choice for areas susceptible to vandalism.

Unfortunately the Urban 90, without additional padding being added, is probably the most uncomfortable seat ever to reach the UK and Ireland. It was on the Bus Eireann DPCs.

Contrails

Anyone know if the drivers seat is as low in the new batch of hybrids as they are in the AH? The AH driving position is lower than the rest of the fleet.

Citrus_8

Contrails wrote: »

Anyone know if the drivers seat is as low in the new batch of hybrids as they are in the AH? The AH driving position is lower than the rest of the fleet.

I was always wondering, which position is more comfortable to the drivers? I was thinking if sitting higher, especially for a tall person, may give a chronic back pain?

p_haugh

I know this isn't hybrid electric related, this is about the hydrogen fuelled single decker bus that's been on trial in various places
in dublin over the past month or so.
Seems to be doing the trial around dcu this week, running an in-service link between the various campuses:
https://twitter.com/ray_dublin/status/1339169924309274628?s=20

https://twitter.com/EAASolutions/status/1338900909791862784?s=20

https://twitter.com/ESBGroup/status/1339181874392993797?s=20

dublinman1990

2 of the new hydrogen streetdecks for Translink (Metro) were photographed outside Stormont today for a photo shoot.

The buses are given a four digit mumber. They are registered as XUI 8003 (5003) & XUI 8004 (5004).

bk

Nice pics p_haugh and dublinman1990, great to see new buses and new technologies being trialled.

MOD: I've updated the thread title to reflect the broader conversation of next gen buses, thanks

GT89

First Enviro 400H City has arrived in Galway notice they've made a slight modification by putting yellow on the front set of doors which I think looks quite good. Notice they're still not registered which suggests they're holding out for a 211 reg.
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/irishtransport/viewtopic.php?p=114354#p114354

CatInABox

Big news coming out of the NTA today, they've started the procurement process on 800 double decker electric buses.

I wonder if this is in addition to the full order of 600 hybrid buses, or will they just stop with the ones that they've already committed to?

https://twitter.com/dermotog/status/1341007348685529089

Peregrine

CatInABox wrote: »

Big news coming out of the NTA today, they've started the procurement process on 800 double decker electric buses.

I wonder if this is in addition to the full order of 600 hybrid buses, or will they just stop with the ones that they've already committed to?

https://twitter.com/dermotog/status/1341007348685529089

These agreements are just for options. The agreement with ADL for the 600 hybrids allows the NTA to purchase between 0 and 600 buses. So far, they've placed 280 firm orders. There was an initial order of 100 buses with the official announcement and a further order of 180 buses a few weeks ago. They can choose to not buy the other 320 hybrids.

bk

This is great news

Based on the timing, it sounds like they will only be getting 280 of the 600 400ER hybrid options, switching to full EV instead.

Having said that I’d suspect ADL will be in a very strong position for this new order, maybe with the BYD buses.

Peregrine

bk wrote: »

This is great news

Based on the timing, it sounds like they will only be getting 280 of the 600 400ER hybrid options, switching to full EV instead.

Having said that I’d suspect ADL will be in a very strong position for this new order, maybe with the BYD buses.

The decision to order 180 more was made in September and the order was placed a few weeks ago. They would have known they'd be tendering for the battery electrics by then so it's probably what they estimate they'll need.

The current order for hybrids will keep coming in until 2023. The battery electrics will start delivery in the second half of 2022 according to the NTA... So say Q1 2023. So, unless the NTA thinks it suddenly needs more buses than planned around 2023-24 or if the battery electric buses take much longer to be delivered, I'd say that's it. I wouldn't be surprised with another small order but nowhere close to 600.

bk

A little bit of extra info on the tender document:

“be equipped with a minimum usable battery capacity (i.e. usable energy) of 300kWh, with the batteries being capable of being recharged, at a minimum, from a 150kW power supply via a CCS 2.0 compatible charging gun;”

No real surprise, will be a pretty big battery and have pretty decent fast charging.

Peregrine, yep all that timing makes sense to me. I’m glad to see them switch to EV earlier if the tech is ready.

punisher5112

Will they hold on to the AXs then till these come online?

bk

punisher5112 wrote: »

Will they hold on to the AXs then till these come online?

I wouldn't see this making any difference to the withdrawal of the AX's. Sounds like 280 400ER's still coming over the next two years, so I'd assume they will push out the AX's.

GT89

bk wrote: »

I wouldn't see this making any difference to the withdrawal of the AX's. Sounds like 280 400ER's still coming over the next two years, so I'd assume they will push out the AX's.

And probably the EVs too

Idbatterim

Certainly a lot more attractive prospect to take a quiet, non badly vibrating, stinking, poor acceleration diesel bus...

Cash needs to go immediately ,wastes far too much time

GT89

Idbatterim wrote: »

Certainly a lot more attractive prospect to take a quiet, non badly vibrating, stinking, poor acceleration diesel bus...

Cash needs to go immediately ,wastes far too much time

They will still rattle going over bumps

p_haugh

GT89 wrote: »

And probably the EVs too

As well as the VTs, plus VGs at the very tail end (/when the fully electric come along)

AlekSmart

Idbatterim wrote: »

Certainly a lot more attractive prospect to take a quiet, non badly vibrating, stinking, poor acceleration diesel bus...

Cash needs to go immediately ,wastes far too much time

When all the hoohah subsides and reality takes a hand,a certain balance will return to the Powertrain issue. The Internal Combustion Engine is'nt gone yet...

https://www.sustainable-ic-enginevirtuallive.com/en/index.php

The demise of cash on Urban Bus services,on the other hand is now well overdue,particularly as the NTA assumes full responsibility for Revenue as and of 1st January 2021...just do it ! :eek:

punisher5112

The ev buses use a diesel generator for heating I believe.

p_haugh

AlekSmart wrote: »

The demise of cash on Urban Bus services,on the other hand is now well overdue,particularly as the NTA assumes full responsibility for Revenue as and of 1st January 2021...just do it ! :eek:

Especially with the bus Connects routes to start changing over in early 2021, it would be the perfect time to switch over (even as a small scale trial on said routes before a fleet-wide rollout).

d51984

Any Broadstone lads on here? Try get pic of driver seat and cab.

GT89

Don't like the look of these electric buses over in London
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2599539000144731&id=1286511478114163

bk

AlekSmart wrote: »

When all the hoohah subsides and reality takes a hand,a certain balance will return to the Powertrain issue. The Internal Combustion Engine is'nt gone yet...

https://www.sustainable-ic-enginevirtuallive.com/en/index.php

ICE is dead. Countries across Europe banning ICE sales in just 10 years. The above nonsense reminds me of Diesel gate. A dying industry desperately trying to avoid the inevitable.

EV’s are already cheaper in terms of Total Cost of Ownership and are expected to reach price parity with ICE within 2 to 3 years, even without subsidy. ICE is finished when that happens

GT89 mechanical failures can happen with any bus.

GT89

bk wrote: »

GT89 mechanical failures can happen with any bus.

Yeah but that one looks particularly serious one if it happened whilst in service. I've heard bad reports in general about Chinese made vehicles in fact most in China will go for European cars if they can afford them as Chinese vehicles are typically assoicated with being cheap, poor quality and even dangerous in some cases.

bk

GT89 wrote: »

Yeah but that one looks particularly serious one if it happened whilst in service. I've heard bad reports in general about Chinese made vehicles in fact most in China will go for European cars if they can afford them as Chinese vehicles are typically assoicated with being cheap, poor quality and even dangerous in some cases.

Except this is not a Chinese made bus, it is made by ADL in the UK, much the same as any other Enviro400. Only the drivetrain is made by BYD and their factory is in Hungary.

BYD also have a second factory in France.

So these are very much European buses.

As for your comments on Chinese cars, they are very out of date. Chinese car companies have made massive strides to improve quality and they are basically following the same formula that made Japanese and Korean cars so successful world wide and very high quality.

Chinese buying European cars has now flipped and you would be looked down on for not buying a Chinese made car.

There are of course still some extremely cheap Chinese cars (some crazy electric car bike things that cost like €1000!), but normal priced cars are hitting the same quality levels as other Asian companies.

The Chinese government basically want Chinese made cars to compete and dominate internationally like the Japanese/Koreans and they knew they had to push up quality to achieve that.

Also see Chinese owned European brands like Volvo, MG and Jaguar/Landrover (partly Indian owned too).

GT89

Probably a bit late to the party but pictures of the drivers cab can be found here
http://www.nbru.ie/nbru-bus-design-committee-views-new-alexander-dennis-bus-for-2021/

p_haugh

First pics I've seen of the Wright's Hydrogen buses that will be on trial with bus eireann. Interesting to note how they are the old style front, not the newer front found on the more recent Bus Eireann VWDs.

https://flic.kr/p/2kozTTd

Peregrine

p_haugh wrote: »

First pics I've seen of the Wright's Hydrogen buses that will be on trial with bus eireann. Interesting to note how they are the old style front, not the newer front found on the more recent Bus Eireann VWDs.

https://flic.kr/p/2kozTTd

That design has really aged. I was disappointed they didn't go for the facelifted design for the newer Dublin Bus SGs like the VWDs.