Double launch at IAA

The German fair for medium and heavy duty road vehicles, IAA, is an event that is occuring every second year. After the economical crisis the last couple of years not much is new at the bus stands. However, Volvo sticks out as one of the few that has managed to develop new products during the recession.

The first day of IAA, 22nd of September, Volvo Bus Corporation simultaneously launched the new Volvo 8900 low entry bus and the new Volvo 9500 coach. Volvo Bus CEO Håkan Karlsson presented the thinking behind our new products and Noel Reculet, Senior Vice President and managing director of the European Market explained how the new buses will meet the future demands for efficient and high performing buses.

The new Volvo 8900 to the right and the new Volvo 9500 to the left

The 8900 is built with an aluminium body that reduce the weight further 800 kg, when compared to the 8700 with the D12 engine on three axles. My personal favourite engine the D7 engine (because of the excellent fuel consumption in busses all over the world) is now available also in our low entry buses with three axles, the Volvo 8900. Even if the strongest dicipline of the long 8900 with the D7 engine is and will remain the versatility from city to intercity it is still surprisingly strong also in up-hill driving. When sufficient declanation sets back the speed to 70 km/h for the old 8700 with a D12 engine the new 8900 will still defend its position with 65 brave km/h going up the same hill.

For the new 9500 coach the challenge will be to compete with the larger brother the Volvo 9700 coach. As opposite to the the 9700, the 9500 will be equipped with our fuel efficient 9-liter engine instead of the 13-litre engine for 9700.

We have now received the statistics from the first year with the D13 litre engine that we introduced in 2009 to meet Euro V. We find that the fuel consumption has decreased another 3% relative the B12B with a Euro IV engine in the same operation. It is no surprise since in the coach operation the strong engine torque together with the I-shift gearbox makes it possible to lower the rear axle ratio, to allow even lower engine speed for the D13 engine.

Benchmarking against the best

My first 17 years in the automotive industry (at Volvo Technology) I worked in research and could together with my colleagues contribute to the technology improvement that now is used to develop the environmental improvement we realise today. Our research director, Lars-Göran Rosengren, constantly challenged us to benchmark against the best. We made efforts to find technologies of the best competitors to compare our in-house research and development to.

Now, as Environmental Director, I use the key data from other person transports to improve further. Our Volvo 7700 Hybrid bus is #1 in environmental performance, as I already written about previously. But, how does it compare to the environmental leader in person transports, biking?

The single most important contributor to the environmental load during the use phase is energy use (as defined in the EU directive for Green and Energy efficient Vehicles, read it here) and second is the carbon dioxide, followed by NOx and particulates.

The average European city/commuter bus has 20 passengers and drives in 20 km/h. I used the average data for fuel consumption 43 litre per 100 km for the diesel bus and 28 litter per 100 km for the hybrid bus.

When calculating the energy use per passenger kilometre data for the average European bus is applied.

For the bus the energy for the diesel fuel is used for the calculation and for the cyclist the energy content in the food required to maintain the energy balance is used. The average efficiency of the nutrition cycle converting energy in food to mechanical work is 20%. The bike is still in lead with 43 Wh per kilometre. But, our plans for further improvement will truly challenge the bike for the average passenger.

Second to energy use the, carbon dioxide contribute most to the environmental cost for society. Now, for the carbon dioxide, the diet of the cyclist is essential. In the graph below you will find data based on an diet of hamburgers. For a vegetarian the carbon dioxide emissions will become much less. But, the hybrid bus will become a vegetarian as well, when fuelled with biodiesel.

In the math race against the bike the hybrid bus now challenge the bike in carbon dioxide emissions, already when fueled on fossil diesel.

The data above is based on the average occupancy of 20 persons. For a traffic planer the relevant question might be:

Which occupancy of the bus is required to compete with the bike?

For that I have done the calculation below. The energy use for a pedestrian walking rapidly at 10 km/h and a cyclist biking at 20 km/h is compared to the average European diesel bus and the new Volvo 7700 Hybrid.

The total energy use is increasing for the increasing weight of the bus (about 3% per tonne) but the energy use per passenger is decreasing up to the maximum capacity of the bus. The hybrid bus has about 5 person higher passenger capacity than the standard bus. The energy use per passenger is hence 30 Wh per passenger kilometre for a fully occupied standard diesel bus and 18 Wh per passenger kilometre for the fully occupied Volvo 7700 Hybrid.

The answer to the question above is thus that it is more energy efficient to take the bus than to take the bike when there are more than 52 passengers in the standard diesel bus and more than 32 passengers in the Volvo 7700 Hybrid.

However, the difference is small and I need the exercise and will hence continue to take my bike as often as I can…

Norway for environment

I frequently meet with customers and authorities to discuss environmental issues for the public transports. Last week for example I visited both Copenhagen and Oslo.

In Norway Volvo Bus Corporation has been very successful in communicating our core value environment. Not least the active efforts made by Svenn-Åge Lökken, our Sales Director in Norway, has lead to a very strong environmentally profiled offer.

Svenn-Åge Lökken and my self at Gardemoen airport.

In Oslo, we made an exclusive 4 hour environmental seminar for a group of persons with strong interest in truly environmentally friendly transports of persons. It is clear that the environmental performance of the bus it self is crucial. I say, its even more important to consider the transports and journeys that you replace. Is there a business case for the environment? Which are the alternatives?

Often the alternatives are private cars or trains and then the environmental effect is of course much higher than just the impact of the bus it self. By replacing relatively much more energy intense transports the bus justifies the investment also from a pure environmental standpoint.

I hardly had time return to Sweden until I met with a brand new Volvo 7700 Hybrid bus on its way to Norway, another proof for the environmental profile of Norwegian customers and public transport authorities.

The production of Volvo 7700 Hybrid is now ramping up and the commercial success is already a fact.

The sales to Switzerland, Norway, England, Denmark, Germany, Austria etc. exceeds our expectations and the positive feed-back we get is a true joy to experience.