Ice breaking in Switzerland

I’m always happy to return to Switzerland. As I did my PhD in Zurich, more than 20 years ago, I still feel a little bit Swiss. This year, the VÖV (Vereiningung Öffentlichen Verkher) held their biannual meeting in St. Gallen.

When travelling, I put special value on my morning jogging. It is strange how almost every city in Switzerland have their own hill from which you get a panorama of the Alps. This morning I went jogging up the Freudenberg. The feeling when facing the clear skies the fresh air, the clonk noise from the cow bells and occasional bääääs to from the sheep’s can hardly be described in a way the gives justice the experience.

At the top, with a pulse of 180 beats per minute, the panorama of Säntis (if I got the direction right) was breathtaking in more than one way. The experience added a healthy looking flush to my face, for the rest of the day.

The small well ordered, picturesque farms close to the cities; touch my heart as the true spirit of Switzerland. In the background, the old town of St. Gallen and the famous monastery is partly visible.

 

The conference in public transports was really interesting with a lot of focus on transport efficiency. Switzerland is special in many ways. The high quality expectations, with demands for high environmental performance with simultaneous strict boundaries for the economical viability is a challenge. I’m therefore particularly happy to see the high interest we now face for hybrids in Switzerland.

 

Today I got a bit proud too: Its one thing when I learn about our test results from independent institutes, the high reliability in our in-house testing etc. But, its even more exciting for to find our customers sharing their results in a public conference, on the their own testing of the Volvo 7700 Hybrid. The reports and testimonies from the customers gave me a confirmation that we, no doubt, have the strongest hybrid offer on the market.

 

It’s almost embarrassing when customers ask why the pricing is much lower than for the vendor products. But, as environmental director I’m of course glad that we have chosen the path to go for volume production with shortest possible lead time. The pricing will thus have to compete with the standard diesel buses by offering the lowest life cycle cost. With the fuel consumption figures that customers now report, I say we have succeeded.

The Swiss Post hybrid bus was delivered 1st of April as the worlds first Volvo 7700 Hybrid from the production series. After the Ice breaking of the Swiss Post we have now a number of hybrids to be supplied to Switzerland. There are 14 buses scheduled in the present plan and another 10 are about to be agreed in a near future. 

 

Commute Greener

The commute greener community is growing. Today I visited an event for the European parliament members and their staff. Magnus Kuschel, the manageing director, presented the Commute Greener idea and how the app works: www.commutegreener.com

Commute Greener allows you to keep track of your carbon foot print with you mobile phone. And, MEPs can now compare their daily travels, count their CO2 free miles and compete in reduction. For the advanced users you can ad the characteristics of your own car or use the community to exchange ideas or information.

Magnus Holmqvist Kuschel in front of the hybrid bus presenting the Commute Greener community.

I got the oportunity to present our hybrid bus as the most cost efficient way for society to reduce the environmental impact. When singeling out the C02 emissions, the hybrid emits in average 21 grammes per passenger kilometre. Compared to 140 grammes for the average car ride. For the fully seated hybrid bus the emission per passenger is 7 grammes per kilometer.

Meeting the spring in Aachen

Last week I visited a meeting with PTAs in Aachen. As in most parts of Europe the discussion about different hybrids is vivid. The benefits of the very high fuel savings in a large variety of cycles and in combination with a very reliably design is experienced is highly appreciated from the Volvo 7700 hybrid. So far the German market has not had as much contact with the innovative hybrid bus. But, hopefully this will change in the future.

In the early morning I went jogging. The “Aachener Dome” was dressed in a spectacular breathtaking set of Magnolia trees. The dome is from the 13th century and sticks out with the octagonal Karoliner styled tower.

I spent many journeys in Aachen some 20 years ago, when the early scientific work on particulate filters was conducted. Not much has changed in the agent city. I could recognise the restaurants and buildings in the city centre.

 

Environmental Product Declaration for Volvo 7700 Hybrid

 

 

Volvo Bus corporation make environmental product declarations for the complete buses that we develop. With the new hybrid the environmental impact during the full life cycle is of particular interest to safeguard the total impact.
In this blog I relate to some of the key figures for Volvo 7700 Hybrid. I have not included the effect of the increased passenger capacity of the hybrid bus.

 

We know from previously that the energy use is very heavy in the total environmental load. Below the energy use is summarised in to the main groups.
The fuel tanked in the use phase dominates the impact with 84% of the total energy use.

 

Energy Use (MWh)	Production	Fuel	Fuel use	Maintenance	End of life	Total
		production
Electricity renewable	13	4		0	-4	13
Electricity, non-renewable	39	15		3	-4	53
Other renewable energy	14					14
Other non renewable energy	203	247	2347	52	-43	2805

 

When the results are compared to the 7700 standard diesel bus with it is clear the the hybrid realises a major savings.

 

Energy use (MWh)	7700	7700 Hybrid
Electricity renewable	15	13
Electricity, non-renewable	59	53
Other renewable energy	14	14
Other non renewable energy	3917	2805

 

And when typical emissions for city driving are compared again the hybrid not only cause less carbon dioxide it also creates significantly less hazardous emissions.

 

Emissions to air (kg)	7700	7700 Hybrid
CO	287	167
CO2	1017240	733112
HC (VOC)	1869	1021
NOx	3706	1922
SO2	870	718
PM (Particulate matter)	106	77

 

The environmental impact broken down to global warming potential, acidification potential and ozone depletion potential clarifies the advantage of the hybrid bus.

 

Environmental effects
Total Production, fuel, maintenance, end-of-life	7700	7700 Hybrid
Greenhouse Effects – GWP
(CO2 equivalents)	1047000	756023
Acidification Potential
(SO2 equivalents)	2891	2167
Ozone Depletion Potential
(CFC11 equivalents)	0	0

 

As summary I’m very proud to be able to present key values for our hybrid bus that so clearly clarifies the improved environmental impact.

 

Road tolls for to finance infrastructure

Gothenburg has prioritised the environmental agenda since the mid 1970ties when the acid rain hit the region very hard. Industry and transports by shipping and road traffic today dominates the environmental load in the region of west Sweden. Recently decisions have been taken for a series of measures to overcome the most urgent environmental and congestion issues. Yesterday the environmental director at Gothenburg transport authority, Anders Roth, gave an environmental seminar at Volvo Bus corporation.

 

Picture examplifying one possible vision for a future central junction at “Korsvägen”

 

In order to keep a high service level a congestion charging system will be introduced. The charging will meet multiple targets both simply to collect money and to control and direct the flow of person transports to the preferred transport means and to the preferred geographical routs.
 
I am of course happy to see that buses with an environmental profile will become a part of the solution. I have previously written in the blog about how high capacity buses and buses with low environmental load, such as hybrid buses, actually perform better than all other alternatives for person transports. And, naturally I’m glad to see that some of the high performing buses are on the agenda to be prioritised.