Long Beach Transit officially begins passenger service with 15 new, brightly decaled “E-Power” buses on Monday. The 40-foot vehicles use technology similar to the Toyota Prius and are claimed to be the first production hybrid petrol-electric buses to be introduced into regular transit service in the world.
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With fuel economy, dramatically cleaner tailpipe emissions and a quieter ride for passengers, E-Power buses will replace older ultra low-sulphur diesel buses in the Long Beach Transit fleet. All of the agency’s first order of 27 buses will be carrying passengers this month, with another 20 scheduled to be delivered before the end of summer.
“Hybrid E-Power buses not only meet Southern California’s clean air goals but exceed them,” said a spokesman.
Long Beach Transit has dubbed the new vehicles E-Power buses to help differentiate them from the rest of its bus fleet.
In testing, the hybrid buses beat liquefied natural gas (LNG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) — chosen by many transit agencies several years ago as the successor to diesel – on fuel efficiency, emissions and projected lifetime vehicle cost.
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By GlobalDataHybrid bus prototypes were tested in passenger service by San Bernardino County’s transit agency in 2002 and 2003. Long Beach Transit is the first in the world to deploy the resulting production models. Other Southern California transit agencies are now awaiting delivery of their orders, including the Orange County Transportation Authority, Gardena Municipal Bus Lines, Montebello Bus Lines and Norwalk Transit.
Once the full order of 47 buses has been delivered this summer, Long Beach Transit has an option to order 20 more hybrids each year for four years. If all options are exercised, more than half of the existing fleet of 220 buses eventually would be hybrids.
Each hybrid bus has an electric ultra-capacitor storage unit on the roof – a new technology replacing the conventional battery used in automotive hybrids such as the Toyota Prius.
The E-Power buses far exceed local, state and federal emissions requirements for the foreseeable future, use up to 50% less fuel than diesel buses, get far better economy than any other fuel option, and cost less over their lifetime than alternative-fuel buses. The price tag for each hybrid bus is $US550,000, but the E-Power bus will cost less to maintain, operate and fuel than existing buses. And E-Power buses require no expensive infrastructure modifications as CNG and LNG buses do.
The hybrid bus purchase was funded by local, state and federal sources.
