Noise of concern

When the hybrid buses were introduced on route 60 in Göteborg, Sweden last summer we bragged about the low noise (3 dB less). The reaction did not wait, after a few days two noise complaints were registered from citizens living close to one of the bus stops. Obviously, we had raised the expectations too much.

A passenger survey showed that 86% of the passengers found the new buses less noisy and the remaining 16% did not notice any difference. A measurement performed at the critical bus stops showed in average even less than the “theoretical” 3 dB from the drive-by measurement.

No doubt, the hybrid buses make a substantial contribution to less noise in the city environment.

European union works hard on decreasing the noise in our cities. An excellent starting point is gathering data and comparing. For anyone interested in statistics I recommend you look into this data base: http://www.eea.europa.eu//themes/noise/dc)

You can also contribute yourself by downloading the NoiseWatch (http://watch.eyeonearth.org/ ) app to your smart phone. Measure inside the bus, tram or train and report it. When you are finished you can review the result at “Eye-on-earth”.

One thing seems clear; actions are needed and increased focus on noise is expected.

Hybrids for Denmark

The 7th of January one of the first fleets of Volvo 7900 Hybrid was taken into service in Kolding in Denmark.

I had the opportunity to say a few words about the environmental performance. The new hybrid buses will significantly reduce the environmental impact relative to the main environmental alternative gas (CNG):
+50% less fuel consumption
+significantly less Noise
+50% less total environmental impact (including energy, CO2, NOx and particulates according to 2009/33/EC)

Mayor of Kolding, Jörn Pedersen, during the inauguration ceremony.

We had a ride through the city of Kolding in one of the buses that was decorated with numerous Danish flags (Dannebrogen, which is considered to be the oldest national flag in the world stemming from 1219). There was a brisk wind and some fog in the air. The hybrid showed off for the day with a long electric drive when leaving the railway station. The electric start, which will give relief to citizens living close to bus stops, was demonstrated at several occasions.

The new hybrid buses were introduced in a partnership between the operator Tide, Volvo Bus, City of Kolding and Sydtrafik.

Volvo Hybrids becomes standard

At the IAA exhibition in September Volvo Bus released information about the product line for 2014. All Euro VI low floor city buses will be sold with hybrids as standard.

To explain why we now take this step I need to say a few words about the history.

During 1940 and 1950 the number of motor vehicles increased rapidly in Europe and North America. The lethal accidents raised to unacceptable levels. Safety technology such as seat belts was offered as options and certainly made a difference for the ones choosing it. In 1959 Volvo introduced seat belts as standard for the Volvo Amazon. With the raising numbers Nils Bohlin could develop existing concepts to level that was practical and accepted. Today seatbelts comes as standard equipment for cars all over the world.

During the sixties air pollution became an increasing concern in most major cities. California was early out and decisions on air pollution standards were taken in 1969. Lots of interesting concepts were proposed and even offered as options, however the air quality did not improve much until Volvo introduced the three way catalyst as standard equipment in 1976. By choosing to go for three way catalysts as standard factory fit rather than optional choice, Stephen Wallman and his colleagues at Volvo could design injection system and engine control to take full advantage of the new technology. Within a few years all cars from all brands  in the US were sold with electronic injection systems and three way catalysts as standard. It took another 14 years for the catalyst technology to become standard in Europe, this is however another story.

Today the EU 20 20 20 targets phrase our challenge in a binding legislation. We need to prioritize:
1, Redirect our energy use to sustainable sources

2, Lower emissions of greenhouse gases
3, Lower the energy use

The past three years Europe has been improving slightly when it comes to emissions of green house gases and sustainable energy use but the total energy use is still raising. Just like California once was struggling to meet their air quality targets Europe now struggles to restrict the energy runaway.

Volvo 7900 Hybrid is one of the buses in the low floor range that will be fited with hybrid drivetrain as standard.

The only logical solution to all three challenges is spelled hybridization. By introducing hybrid drivetrains as standard offers in Europe we now take the logical step. By choosing hybridization we can offer so much more than just a bus. Service and maintenance costs can be kept under control and emissions can be controlled more precisely when we have access to the electrical control.

The Volvo 7900 Hybrid makes the difference:

1, Sustainable and local energy usage is secured by compatibility with most biodiesel standards

2, 39-80% less greenhouse gases (39% with fossil diesel and about 80% with EU standard biodiesel, certified biodiesel could be even better)

3, 39% less energy use

In addition the electric start function gives less local emissions at bus stops.

It is obvious from history, when all parameters point in the same direction a paradigm shift is on its way. The extremely positive experiences the last three years with the Volvo hybrid buses has proven that hybrid buses are here to stay.

Therefore Volvo now takes the step and goes all-in for hybrid buses in Europe. Anyone interested in more details is free to contact me.

What I do…

… to limit my environmental foot print.

Like lists and tables.

Below are some things I try to do, to limit the environmental load.

1, Repair shoes, cloths and equipment if possible.
2, Reuse and renovate furniture. Antique is chick.
3, Recycle what is possible.
3, Exercise, but travel less.
4, When travelling consider options. Often a minor time penalty can decrease the energy use a lot. (e.g. Bike < Bus < Car)
5, Buy local, everywhere.
6, Prioritize common food. Base products usually cause least impact.
7, When cooking keep energy use down by efficient stove.

 

Persontrafikmässan 2012

Last week the annual public transport fair was held in Gothenburg. Of course we had the hybrid at the stand. The Hybrid has now been sold in close to 1000 units since the introduction 2010.

Volvo Hybrid sales map

The hybrid sales will soon exceed one thousand units of which more than 800 in Europe.

During the last year Sweden has increased the numbers from zero to more than 50 units. The importance of not wasting energy is more and more in the awareness of the political leadership. There are obviously two formalized drivers:
1, The European 20 20 20 targets
2, The European Directive for public procurement

Among the prominent visits was the Swedish minister for infrastructure; Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd visited Volvo Buses and had discussions with Håkan Karlsson (to the right). Ulf Gustafsson, public affairs Volvo Buses (in the middle) is amusing the visitors.

Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd, Swedish minister for infrastructure

Energy efficient and clean buses provides for a bright future!

Helsinki to reduce emissions by 80%

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Finland. Hazardous emissions and greenhouse gases are taken very seriously. Some streets struggle with noise issues.

In many medium size Nordic cities the Low Entry 6×2 rule. The Volvo 7900 is still for some while available as a Low floor 12m version with 4×2, only. Some cities now evaluate hybrid buses to decrease the environmental load.

Volvo 7900 Hybrid in Turku/Åbo

Helsinki has one of the most aggressive plans known to me. The plan is to reduce the hazardous emissions from the bus fleet by 80% by 2020. And, the target is valid for the average fleet, not the new purchase. This effectively means a complete renewal of the fleet. It will be interesting to see which energy efficiency targets that will be set.

 

Tampere

Wednesday night started with a short jogging in the beautiful city of Tampere followed by half an hour in the Sauna with three polite gentlemen from Finland. First they helped me to throw water on the Sauna stones. After a couple of minutes I qualified for a beer. And, before they left the Sauna, they filled up the bucket with water for me.

VDV award to Volvo 7900 Hybrid

It took a while for the world to discover the Volvo Hybrid Technology. With the most recent VDV award the new hybrid technology has now attracted five awards, that I know about. Two from Germany, one each from Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. When I was notified of the deadline for applications in spring I was travelling and had little time to prepare the documentation. Fortunately, the hybrid project had most of the documentation already prepared. Longtime readers may recall the Hybrid Project celebration with the 3 meter long hybrid bus cake visited by former Volvo Group CEO Leif Johansson and present Volvo Group CEO Olof Persson. In the photo  you will find the project team behind the hybrid success.

We are also very proud and honored to have received the EBUS award. The EBUS award is sanctioned by the Bundesminister for Transports Peter Ramsauer. State Secretary Rainer Bomba honoured the award ceremony with presenting the awards.

When looking back Volvo has been struggling with realising different hybrid technologies over the years. The award winning technology is based on a parallel design. The pioneering work was done in the mid 1990′s. In 2002 we presented the first heavy duty version of the ISAM concept, with super cap energy storage. And, in December 2005 one bus and one truck was presented, now with battery technology. In spring 2006 the industrialisation project started and in April 2010 we delivered the first hybrids in serial production.

Numerous of benchmarking studies, montecarlo simulations and total cost of ownership studies have guided us. The ISAM technology, with an integrated electrical machine in a parallel position secures that the hybrid always has lower fuel consumption than the diesel and that it is always more reliable than the diesel. From early on, those were two of the design criteria that we were not allowed to compromise. By avoiding a sensitive serial design where the performance of one component needs to rely on a chain of all other components we could secure even higher availability than diesel buses. We were also determined to make a design that was not sensitive to the customers’ driving cycles. We said, “we cannot create a hybrid bus where we need to explain to the operators that they are using it in the wrong cycle“. The serial hybrid was thus not a possible choice, even if the packaging would have been possible to make with less efforts and development cost.

The success is thus not a coincidence. We have worked hard for more than a decade to secure the technology and to get to the attractive cost level we have achieved today. I say that 2012 will be the year written in history books of when the hybrid bus technology became the preferred choice.

Postcard from Hong Kong

Person transports in Hong Kong face all challenges you can think of, except extremely cold climate. The high density of population with 22 000 persons per square kilometer in average (with 100 000 in the dense areas) beats most other mega cities in the world. The population growth is close to 100 000 persons per year, which effectively means that the city grows with close to one million inhabitants in ten years. Constant construction work is ongoing both in new districts and to maintain facades damaged by the typhoon. For this, amazingly, more than 40 stores high bamboo constructions are raised. How on earth can the sticks closest to the ground take the load?

The geographical conditions present severe challenges with the torn coast line together with a truly fascinating topography. Most of the daily travels are performed by walking, almost 50%. The public transports present a challenge. The famous nostalgic old double decker trams are still in use, even if an update is needed.

Hong Kong Double Deck Tram

Hong Kong likes building high, which also goes for the buses. Like in London the street space is limited and therefore double decker buses are used. In other cities the limiting factor for public transports is the embarking/disembarking. Metro with lots of wide doors or buses with similar design is used to meet the transport capacity demand. But, in Hong Kong, slow traffic speed limits the transport capacity and therefore the passengers might as well sit down and rest while gliding slowly through the congested traffic. The high capacity demand has developed a unique 12m three axle double decker class. The quality requirements are very high and Volvo is proud to be one out of very few suppliers able to meet the requirements. The B9TL chassis with body work by Wrights Bus are well suited for the challenges of Hong Kong. Many buses get more than 15 years here in spite of the climate challenges.

Golden bus in Hong Kong, reaches for the sky, with high capacity 6×2 and 12m tall (by Volvo and Wrights).

Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award 2012

I’m just on my way to leave India after two intense days. Monday the 30th of October the Noble Week in India started with the Volvo Sustainable Mobility Award ceremony in Bangalore.
The ceremony was honored by a number of distinguished guests, among them the excellences the Ambassador of Sweden in India, the former Ambassador of India in Sweden and MK Shankaralinge Gowda, Principal Secretary, Department of Horticulture.

Ms Gita Sen, Ms Geetam Tiwari, Mr. N. Manjunatha Prasad and Mr. V Sridhar were sitting at the same table as I. We all took part in the first panel debate. I enjoyed the relaxed and open format very much. As one of the outcomes, cited the day after in newspapers, it was found that the city of Bangalore (as one example out of many) is less and less there for the people and more and more prioritizing cars and other transports.

The award winners of 2012 were Embarq India and Indian Urban Space Foundation, Bangalore.

1, Embarq India was awarded for taking on the challenge to reform one of the major Arterials for person transports in Bangalore, the Hosur Road Corridor. The overall goal for this project is to reduce travel time by an average of 20 minutes for 275,000 people daily. The numbers speak for themselves. I want to strongly encourage the project to proceed the plan to the next level of implementation.

2, Indian Urban Space Foundation, Bangalore, was awarded for the project TenderSURE. The project secures a process for the planning and building of road infrastructure in India. As a member of the award committee I can readily admit that I at first sight overlooked the importance and wide reaching implications of this project. No doubt it has found a brilliant approach to the most complicated task of standardizing infrastructure.

I will have reason to come back with a more detailed presentation of the award winners in the blog. As it turns out the combination of the two award winners gives a most winning concept: one addressing the public transport side and one addressing the infrastructure.

Award winners were EMBARQ India and Indian Urban Space Fundation with Harald Sandberg to the left and the chairman of the jury MK Shankaralinge Gowda to the right.

After the ceremony we had a most interesting discussion at our table. How come that some cities are successful in reforming their public transports in a relatively short period of time, while other cities struggle for decades without moving forward? Many different approaches can lead to success but they all seem to have one thing in common (at least that’s the conclusion we came to): One strong person, a mayor or a transport minister, who is very knowledgeable and determined is required to set the overall target and to release the means required for change.

Unfortunately, I got a cold on the airplane to Bangalore and withdraw relatively early to get some rest. Next time I get a chance to exchange thoughts on city planning and public transports on this level in India I would very much like to discuss how private investments can be used to create a road infrastructure that actually do prioritize the citizens in priority order: walking, biking, two and three wheelers, buses, trucks and cars, with reserved space for each one.
Unrealistic? I would not think so. Have a look at the home pages of this year’s award winners.

trolley:motion Leipzig

The traditional trolley bus conference in Europe is called “trolley:motion”. This year Andreas Heuke from Volvo Bus made a contribution.  The message was clear, Volvo will be providing different technologies for different types of partial or full electric operation.

With the risk for oversimplifying, minimizing the cost falls back on the main cost contributions which for hybrids and battery buses are:
1, Cost for the driver 
2, Cost for the Bus
3, Cost for charging infrastructure
4, Cost for energy storage
5, Cost for fuel/energy

It does not take long to realize that the characteristics of the bus route will have impact on which technology will bring the lowest cost.

The main rout characteristics are:
1, Rout speed
2, Rout topography
3, Number of buses per hour
4, Time table: Idle time/stop time

Prof. Arnd Stephan from TU Dresden addressed this complexity in his presentation. Furthermore, it was shown that already today coaches for intercity traffic provide the lowest energy use per passenger kilometer, also when compared to other means of transports such as trains. The bus and coach technologies already have a very favorable starting point when it comes to future demands for energy efficiency in the person transport sector. What Volvo and our customers have found is that the Volvo 7700/7900 hybrid technology is very robust and delivers high savings at all conditions.

Now, when applying the complexity described above on future public transports. It is clear that there will not be only one vehicle technology dominating, in the same way as diesel engines have dominated in the past. Our analysis shows that several technologies will gain advantage in for different boundary conditions. Hybrid buses will be preferred in an increasing number of operations where the traffic density (i.e. number of buses per hour) is not sufficient to finance charging infrastructure for plug-in and electric buses. If the future electric bus is a trolley bus with a complementary battery or a battery bus with opportunity charging will stay a subtle debate in some circles.

In the future, to realize the lowest cost for a certain operation under the typical cost conditions above, plug-in buses (in the meaning that a part of the energy is charged from the electric grid, irrespectively of how the transfer to the bus is arranged) have a strong advantage providing both the efficiency of the electric bus but also the versatility of the infrastructure “independent” conventional diesel bus.

In some areas a dogmatic approach may develop while in other areas a more pragmatic approach will lead the way.