Electric, Hydrogen & Hybrid Electric Buses in Ireland

punisher5112 · 30-01-2021 1:45am

d51984 wrote: »

Beat you to it, yours truly behind the wheel in Mr Halls photo

That's a different bus

d51984 · 30-01-2021 12:47pm

punisher5112 wrote: »

That's a different bus

Sorry I ment I beat you to driving one of the new repainted buses haha.

Nice day off today, might go pub ðŸ˜‚

d51984 · 01-02-2021 1:02pm

According to one of the sites on FB, there has been a change of plans and the GT class will now be painted too.

Clontarf will get priority for repaints as NTA want all buses on the H spine to be in new livery, however word on the street is the launch of the H spine will not happen in March.

In other news, the new PA class will now not enter service until April its been said. Modifications on assault screen, mirrors and a few other bits been needed.

Peregrine · 01-02-2021 1:39pm

d51984 wrote: »

Clontarf will get priority for repaints as NTA want all buses on the H spine to be in new livery, however word on the street is the launch of the H spine will not happen in March.

Definitely not happening in March but they're still gearing things up for a launch.

reboot · 03-02-2021 11:12pm

Stephen15 wrote: »

It's looks from those pictures that the bus is going to be entering full service with DB as it's in full DB spec rather than just being a demonstrator like what DB had in the past before they made a large order for new class of buses. So what will happen to the class they don't go with will they be sent back to the manufacturers in DB spec or will they be kept even though they'll only be 3 in the entire fleet.

I saw the story on BBC Newsline saying that the Minister has allocated £66 million for electric and hydrogen buses in Belfast.But did I hear them go on to say that the hydrogen would be driven to the buses in Belfast?
Presumably in Diesel trucks.ðŸ˜•

GT89 · 05-02-2021 12:59am

Saw an SG for the first time in the new livery today was operating OOS on the Naas Road near Newlands Cross so may have been coming back from a respray down in Irish Commercials in Naas.

I have also heard that GT120 is now in the new livery too so it seems the GTs will be getting the new livery.

punisher5112 · 05-02-2021 2:30am

Seems nuts the gt get it.... Euro5 engine so not so green

GT89 · 05-02-2021 9:27am

https://twitter.com/myDublinbus/status/1357336108430880772?s=19

Neworder79 · 05-02-2021 1:08pm

Interesting video, while good we are finally transitioning, the takeaway from this video is Dublin is where Schengen was in 2008 testing limited electric routes and hybrids.

Have to admire the scale of their ambition and determination to remove diesel and deliver clean efficient transport for its citizens today while we tinker with taxi scrappage schemes.

16000 busses, 22,000 taxis operating fully electric since 2017
(switched 6000 busses, 5000 taxis almost overnight )
250km range, 330kwh double deckers in operation
1800 150kw mostly overnight bus charging point infrastructure
180 depots, modern, quiet, healthy infrastructure, easier operation and happier drivers
1million km / day driven, all EV replacing diesel pollution
1.1million passengers carried / day

bk · 05-02-2021 1:47pm

Yes, I saw that video yesterday, very interesting.

A few interesting things from the video:

- They showed a massive video wall that displays every bus in the city, where it is, how much charge, etc. Massive amounts of data and looked very cool.

- Bus utility is 99.77% which they claimed was higher the Diesel (90 to 95%).

- Showed off a BYD double decker tri-axle EV bus, would be interesting to some here

- They mentioned that they had to overhual all routes and build new depots to make sure buses could be charged at both ends of routes and would have enough range to operate. I wonder will some of that be necessary for Dublin or will ours end up having more range.

- Taxi recharge depots look very fancy, canteen, cafeteria, gym, medical center, massage!!

Hotblack Desiato · 05-02-2021 3:00pm

The irony of course being that a lot of China's electricity comes from filthy coal. At least we've managed to all but phase that out.

bk · 05-02-2021 3:31pm

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

The irony of course being that a lot of China's electricity comes from filthy coal. At least we've managed to all but phase that out.

Not really ironic.

Even with coal generated electricity, you still benefit from the fact that these are zero emission * vehicles and thus eliminate the cancer causing PM's and NOX that come out of the back of a typical Diesel car and bus.

* Note zero emissions pertains to the tail pipe emissions.

In terms of greenhouse gases, even using coal, it still releases less green house gases then a pure Diesel vehicle, due to power plants (+transmission/battery/electric motor) being more efficient then a Diesel engine in a bus.

Also people tend to forget, that you have to use massive amounts of electricity to refine oil into Diesel/Petrol. Which is why most refineries have a big power plant right next door.

BTW China also has a lot of hydro power and some Nuclear, so it isn't all coal either, making it even better.

Obviously it would be better for China to get off coal, but these are still very good steps in the right direction.

.anon. · 05-02-2021 8:34pm

punisher5112 wrote: »

Seems nuts the gt get it.... Euro5 engine so not so green

At this stage, it's probably best not to think of it as a 'green' livery (apart from in the literal sense), but as the new NTA livery, a replacement for the current hideous one. The GTs should look good in it - I've always hated the way the current DB and NTA liveries are applied to the front of them. One of the old DB artics had it applied properly, presumably by accident.

AW%205%20F-S%20(Medium).JPG

d51984 · 05-02-2021 9:56pm

I know for a fact the front of the GT is going to look horrific when it comes back from the paint shop. ALL YELLOW nothing else no logos on front... Bet yea..

GT89 · 05-02-2021 11:28pm

bk wrote: »

They mentioned that they had to overhual all routes and build new depots to make sure buses could be charged at both ends of routes and would have enough range to operate. I wonder will some of that be necessary for Dublin or will ours end up having more range.

The ones used in London don't appear to need any additional depot facilties existing depots seem to have been retrofitted. I watched the video and thought it was interesting that the driver said she found it much easier to drive the electric bus as she didn't have to change gears but almost all buses used in Europe for urban operations are automatic and have been since the 50s/60s I believe.

GT89 · 06-02-2021 5:24pm

Saw an SG in the new livery today on the 7A passing through Monkstown today. I wonder was it SG311 or have others in dbk been repainted now aswell. It looks good

d51984 · 06-02-2021 5:36pm

Could be a 2nd Donnybrook one as I think 311 is on the 155 route.

Peregrine · 06-02-2021 5:42pm

SG311 is definitely in the new livery on the 155.

punisher5112 · 06-02-2021 5:43pm

GT89 wrote: »

Saw an SG in the new livery today on the 7A passing through Monkstown today. I wonder was it SG311 or have others in dbk been repainted now aswell. It looks good

Sg312

punisher5112 · 06-02-2021 5:46pm

Here is sg311 and 312

d51984 · 06-02-2021 5:49pm

Noticed that 312 doesnt have the yellow around the front door, I wonder was it added before entry in to service.

GT89 · 06-02-2021 6:11pm

d51984 wrote: »

Noticed that 312 doesnt have the yellow around the front door, I wonder was it added before entry in to service.

Only saw the offside of the bus so I didn't notice

punisher5112 · 06-02-2021 6:15pm

d51984 wrote: »

Noticed that 312 doesnt have the yellow around the front door, I wonder was it added before entry in to service.

Yes it's on it, you can see in my photo above with door open.

d51984 · 06-02-2021 6:21pm

Ahh my mistake, I never kopped door was open... blonde moment!

punisher5112 · 06-02-2021 6:22pm

d51984 wrote: »

Ahh my mistake, I never kopped door was open... blonde moment!

Ah don't beat yourself up, I'll just catch you in the said door sometime ;-)

dublinman1990 · 13-02-2021 11:47pm

There are some more details about how many more ADL Hybrids are coming to DB & BÉ for this year. Out of the remaining 280 Hybrids that will arrive this year; DB will have a total of 235 buses & BÉ will have 45 of them. To break this down further in how many are left to be delivered......

It will leave DB with a total of 161 buses left to be received this year.

BÉ will have another 19 buses added to their fleet. Some of the buses left in this order will go to Capwell Garage in Cork.

There are also 3 more DB depots that have received the new TFI Hybrid livery. It's now seen in Conyngham Road, Phibsboro & Ringsend.

The SG's in the new livery have been seen to date on the 1, the 40 and the 122.

However; GT120 has received the old Blue TFI livery that is used for GAI's buses. It was seen recently when out on the 25A in Lucan.

That move is strange because I thought that bus was supposed to get the new green hybrid livery?

ax586 · 14-02-2021 1:29am

dublinman1990 wrote: »

There are some more details about how many more ADL Hybrids are coming to DB & BÉ for this year. Out of the remaining 280 Hybrids that will arrive this year; DB will have a total of 235 buses & BÉ will have 45 of them. To break this down further in how many are left to be delivered......

It will leave DB with a total of 161 buses left to be received this year.

BÉ will have another 19 buses added to their fleet. Some of the buses left in this order will go to Capwell Garage in Cork.

There are also 3 more DB depots that have received the new TFI Hybrid livery. It's now seen in Conyngham Road, Phibsboro & Ringsend.

The SG's in the new livery have been seen to date on the 1, the 40 and the 122.

However; GT120 has received the old Blue TFI livery that is used for GAI's buses. It was seen recently when out on the 25A in Lucan.

That move is strange because I thought that bus was supposed to get the new green hybrid livery?

GT120 is in DB livery.

GT89 · 14-02-2021 1:49am

ax586 wrote: »

GT120 is in DB livery.

Personally think it's a bit silly to only paint the SGs and the hybrids in a different livery to the rest of the fleet. Most passengers couldn't care less what fuel their bus is powered by they would a clear integrated public transport system not this nonsense of putting different liveries on buses to show what fuel is powering them.

I don't personally understand the urge for using a greener fleet when public transport is by it's very nature is a more environmentally friendly form of transport. The most environmentally friendly type of bus is the bus that takes the most amount of cars off the road but still the NTA won't buy high capacity three door dual staircase buses like the Enviro 500s purchased for Berlin.

bk · 14-02-2021 2:13pm

GT89 wrote: »

Personally think it's a bit silly to only paint the SGs and the hybrids in a different livery to the rest of the fleet. Most passengers couldn't care less what fuel their bus is powered by they would a clear integrated public transport system not this nonsense of putting different liveries on buses to show what fuel is powering them.

It is more about moving to a consistent livery across all operators, DB and GAI having the same livery. Just like the red buses of London.

You might ask, why not the GT class and older buses too. But they will all be gone in 5 to 6 years anyway and will be seen on the roads less and less, so not a major deal. In just a few years all buses will have the new livery.

And yes it is great marketing to highlight the greener and more environmentally friendly fleet. It is the type of thing that the public likes and will draw more people to public transport.

Plus the new livery is just much nicer then the old DB livery, which really isn’t very attractive IMO. Sure most of us are well use to it, but if they were introducing the DB livery as a new livery today, I bet most of us would hate it and say it looks terrible.

The green of the new livery actually reminds me nicely of the old CIE bus livery, which was one of the nicer ones over the years.

GT89 wrote: »

I don't personally understand the urge for using a greener fleet when public transport is by it's very nature is a more environmentally friendly form of transport. The most environmentally friendly type of bus is the bus that takes the most amount of cars off the road but still the NTA won't buy high capacity three door dual staircase buses like the Enviro 500s purchased for Berlin.

Because Diesel buses still emit PM’s and Nox and that is increasingly becoming a big issue. An individual bus is fine, but large numbers of buses on streets like O’Connell St are causing population levels on those streets much higher then EU allowed limits.

There was a case in London just a month ago, where for the first time, poor air quality was found as the cause of death of a child.

This ruling will have a massive impact in the UK and Ireland on how cities and public transport are run. We are going to be forced to clean up air quality in city centres and it is about time. There won’t be a choice with this, so better to get out in front of it.

Btw as an aside, it will also help greatly with BusConnects. Previously planning authorities and courts have ruled against leaving buses down certain streets (e.g. Parliament St) due to residents fears of lots of buses bringing increased pollution and noise.

Nice new EV buses will help greatly with this issue. It gives residents one less thing to fight with in court.

BBTW there was a recent video on fully charged from China where they showed off a nice looking BYD tri-axle double decker full EV bus. So I’ve no doubt that eventually an Enviro500EV will eventually be built too.

GT89 · 14-02-2021 2:31pm

bk wrote: »

It is more about moving to a consistent livery across all operators, DB and GAI having the same livery. Just like the red buses of London.

You might ask, why not the GT class and older buses too. But they will all be gone in 5 to 6 years anyway and will be seen on the roads less and less, so not a major deal. In just a few years all buses will have the new livery.

And yes it is great marketing to highlight the greener and more environmentally friendly fleet. It is the type of thing that the public likes and will draw more people to public transport.

Plus the new livery is just much nicer then the old DB livery, which really isn’t very attractive IMO. Sure most of us are well use to it, but if they were introducing the DB livery as a new livery today, I bet most of us would hate it and say it looks terrible.

The green of the new livery actually reminds me nicely of the old CIE bus livery, which was one of the nicer ones over the years.

I quite like the new livery also but my point is I think it should be applied to all buses that are due to be repainted and not just Euro VI, electric and hybrid buses. The single door buses I don't think should get as they are unlikely to get anymore repaints before they are all withdrawn.

Because Diesel buses still emit PM’s and Nox and that is increasingly becoming a big issue. An individual bus is fine, but large numbers of buses on streets like O’Connell St are causing population levels on those streets much higher then EU allowed limits.

There was a case in London just a month ago, where for the first time, poor air quality was found as the cause of death of a child.

This ruling will have a massive impact in the UK and Ireland on how cities and public transport are run. We are going to be forced to clean up air quality in city centres and it is about time. There won’t be a choice with this, so better to get out in front of it.

Btw as an aside, it will also help greatly with BusConnects. Previously planning authorities and courts have ruled against leaving buses down certain streets (e.g. Parliament St) due to residents fears of lots of buses bringing increased pollution and noise.

Nice new EV buses will help greatly with this issue. It gives residents one less thing to fight with in court.

BBTW there was a recent video on fully charged from China where they showed off a nice looking BYD tri-axle double decker full EV bus. So I’ve no doubt that eventually an Enviro500EV will eventually be built too.

But in comparison to the amount of cars that would be needed to transport all the passengers which the buses are carrying the amount of emissions being emitted are fairly insignificant. Purely hypothetical but if we could replace all cars with public transport there wouldn't be a need for electric vehicles. Also the use of AdBlue can reduce 90% of nox which has been mandatory since 2006.

Electric, Hydrogen & Hybrid Electric Buses in Ireland

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