TTC’s hybrids a nasty surprise
The headline from the All Headlines News is actually “Toronto Transit Commission Discovers Belatedly Hybrid Buses Fuel Savings Dependent On Driving Conditions” which suggests they are not very adept at writing snappy headlines.
It turns out that in New York City hybrid buses work more efficiently because they are stuck in worse traffic conditions – lots of stops and starts and not much opportunity to wind up the speed . So they get 20 to 30% better than conventional buses whereas the TTC only gets 10%.
in cities like Toronto where the routes are characterized by high speed, hybrids use more their traditional diesel engines.
Well the term “high speed” is of course relative. Higher than Manhattan certainly. I was unable to get a clean shot of a hybrid bus there as they were always boxed in by yellow cabs and open top double deckers. But as a regular commuter on the Sheppard East bus, I am not at all sure I would apply the term “high speed” to that service. I suspect that the TTC could also do better by allocating the hybrids to the dense Toronto downtown core – perhaps by choosing some of the old trolleybus routes like the Bay Street run, which to me resembles 34th Street quite nicely.
Edmonton found the same discrepancy between new diesel buses fuel efficiency and diesel-electric hybrids. The Orion BAE series hybrid diesel-electric system saved 20% compared to the newest diesel bus while the New Flyer Allison parallel diesel-electric system saved only 13% compared to the “clean 07″ diesel. Dr. David Checkel, a mechanical engineer from the University of Alberta, wrote a report http://www.edmonton.ca/transit/bus_testing/Checkel_ExecutiveSummary.pdf , for Edmonton city hall regarding the future of Edmonton trolley buses. (See page 16, 17)
Unlike Metro Vancouver or Edmonton, Toronto plunged into purchasing hybrids, taking manufacturers claims as truth, not conducting field tests. Dr. Checkel does conclude that if the Orion hybrid buses were operated for 21 years, compared to 18 for the diesels, the cost per kilometre would be the same. (see page 22) A longer life-span for the Orion buses is likely since the body frame of the Orion is stainless steel and bus life is limited by corrosion. Interestingly, the hybrids proved to have lower maintenance costs over the year of trial compared to diesels.
Dr. Checkel points out that future inflation increases would favour hybrids since the up-front capital cost would decrease as a proportion of total cost per kilometre. The study assumes fuel costs of $81.5c/L, which even if a bulk purchase using hedging, seems low. The report Checkel makes interesting reading because of its assumptions, the measure of improvement of emissions over the last twenty years, and the different costs of operating buses of different technologies. The $1.3 million extra the TTC will have to pay for unrealized fuel savings is peanuts really.
Thank goodness there are web-sites like yours and publicly funded agencies like ETS and formerly Translink which provide some depth of analysis totally lacking in Toronto Globe and Mail stories. Couldn’t on-line newspapers at least provide links to where to find the information they don’t provide?
Graeme
May 16, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Translnik also conducted trials on various types of buses in service – and painted them in horrible stripey liveries. After the disaster of the CNG fleet, they were very cautious about new technologies. I assume that somewhere on that impenetrable web site of theirs is a board report on the outcome of those tests.
Stephen Rees
May 16, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I just found that Phase 3 will be conducted, and Translink is looking for tenders: http://www.translink.bc.ca/files/procurements/Q8-0048_RFP.pdf
It looks like CNG will be tested again, this time newer models which emit very low NOX.
From the procurement advertisement:
1.4 TransLink currently operates 75 buses on compressed natural gas (CNG). These buses have lean-burn type engines, but the latest generation of CNG engine is a stoichiometric design fitted with a 3-way catalytic converter. This engine type is the first engine to receive EPA certification to the 2010 NOx standard of 0.2 g/bhp-hr. TransLink would like to include this engine type in this current round of testing in order to determine how these engines will perform under the operating conditions encountered in the Vancouver region.
Translink also wants to test B50 biodiesel (actually available in the Lower Mainland) and dpf’s, diesel particle filters.
Graeme
May 18, 2008 at 9:52 pm