Brought to you by
NORTH AMERICA’S HYBRID BUS REVOLUTION Sponsored by
North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution | BAE SYSTEMS | 1
PT_BAESysSupp_Cover2_2.indd 1
23/01/2015 12:02
OV E RV I E W
BAE Systems HybriDrive Solutions has a state-of-the-art production and testing facility in Endicott, in upstate New York
POWERING AHEAD BAE Systems' HybriDrive Solutions is a market leader in the supply of hybrid technology for buses on both sides of the Atlantic
H
ybrid-powered buses have embedded themselves in the mainstream in the UK bus industry over the past five years, thanks to successive rounds of the Green Bus Fund in England and Scotland.
There are now approaching 2,000 hybrid diesel/electric buses in service in the UK and the market leader is BAE Systems, through its partnership with bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis. In North America, hybrid buses are even more firmly embedded in the mainstream, representing 13% of the fleet. Headquartered in London, BAE Systems is a global aerospace and defence company, employing around 85,000 people. The
company’s development of hybrid technology has grown out of its engine controls business and it has developed applications for various markets. BAE Systems' HybriDrive Solutions considers markets at a platform level – bus, train, boat, etc. – and looks at where it can electrify the propulsion systems, the accessories, and the off-board power. With expertise in systems integration, experience with
electric machine control, software controls, energy storage and power management in and out of batteries, BAE Systems is continually relied upon by transit agencies for solutions to save fuel and operate their platform in electric mode. It’s a role beyond that of a components manufacturer. It’s a mission. And this mission, thus far, has been most successful in the bus market. Based in Endicott in upstate New York, USA, the
2 | BAE SYSTEMS | North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution
PT_BAESysSupp_Overview.indd 2
23/01/2015 11:57
HYBRIDRIVE SERIES OFFERS ALL-ELECTRIC MODE
Core components of the HybriDrive Solutions system are built at Endicott, New York
BAE Systems HybriDrive offers two main advances: the ability to electrify accessories, such as air conditioning and power steering, and the option of running for limited periods in all-electric mode. This technology has already been adopted by bus operators across North America, including Red Rose Transit Authority in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (see pages 10-11), Seattle’s King County Metro Transit and Metro Transit of Minneapolis-St Paul. The all-electric mode is generating a lot of interest. John Hroncich, strategy and market development manager at BAE Systems HybriDrive Solutions, offers an example of a possible application for this facility: “If you were coming into a depot and there was an enclosed space and there’s 40 diesel buses idling and you want to reduce your emission footprint in there, there’s an interface with the system to go into Depot Mode. We can enter and exit a depot area in all-electric mode.” The investment in this technology could be offset by savings elsewhere, says Timothy Wells, Program Manager at BAE Systems HybriDrive Solutions. With buses running in all-electric mode inside depots it would no longer be necessary to spend money on air-handling to keep the air breathable. In turn, this would reduce heating costs as in winter warm air will no longer be sucked out of buildings. The vehicles can’t be operated
HybriDrive Solutions business worked tirelessly to understand the platform, and has now supplied hybrid solutions to 4,500 buses worldwide. New York City has North America’s largest hybrid bus fleet, while Dijon, France, has the largest in Europe. Both hybrid fleets use BAE Systems technology. In London, meanwhile, BAE Systems is the main supplier of hybrid propulsion technology. The company works in
Endicott, NY. This year, BAE Systems has also begun manufacturing energy storage systems in Endicott, taking core battery components and incorporating them into its own battery packs, before shipping them to OEMs. The traction motor and Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) are where BAE Systems’ expertise in machine control and electric machines comes in. The design belongs to BAE Systems,
partnership with five original equipment manufacturers (OEMs): Alexander Dennis in the UK, Iveco in mainland Europe, and Gillig, Nova Bus, and New Flyer in North America. It also works with California-based El Dorado on fuel cells buses. With power management being BAE Systems’ core competency, both the power control and accessory power management electronics are designed and manufactured at their facilities in
in all-electric mode for hours on end, but they can operate in this way through areas where air quality is a particular concern. For example, a customer has approached BAE Systems about the possibility of running in all-electric mode through a long tunnel that takes buses in and out of the city’s airport. There is no ventilation system in the tunnel. The current solution is a dual-mode articulated bus, which is powered by overhead catenary wires. BAE Systems is running tests to see how this very specific customer request can be met. The temporary all-electric facility can also be useful in areas where noise pollution is a concern. Wells cites the example of a large apartment complex in a metropolitan city, where hundreds of residents have complained about the noise generated from 4am each morning when the vehicles commence their duties. Pulling away in all-electric mode would enable them to make a silent exit. Wells says that the company is uniquely placed to deliver this kind of tailor-made solution to clients. “You wouldn’t go to a components guy for that solution, you wouldn’t go to an applications guy for that solution, you go to someone that has both,” he says.
HybriDrive system components
but the manufacturing, which involves a lot of casting work and assembling with high-powered magnets, is outsourced to a United Technologies facility in Kenosha, Wisconsin. There are a number of different technologies vying to be the green solution for buses, but BAE Systems believes that it is backing the winner. In 2012, an influential study looked the various powertrain options available for buses in
North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution | BAE SYSTEMS | 3
PT_BAESysSupp_Overview.indd 3
23/01/2015 11:57
OV E RV I E W
7
3
5 6
THE ‘BUS IN A BOX’
operating rooms. Hroncich continues: “I don’t know if you remember Hurricane Sandy a few years ago that hit New York City and Long Island and New Jersey. I remember seeing videos on TV about hospitals being evacuated. They were bringing people downstairs and they were bringing fuel, man to man, to generators that were on top of the building, trying to keep those generators running, and there were power outages all over the place. “Many parts of Long Island were out of power. Even the gas stations on Long Island were without power, so they couldn’t pump fuel. You had two million people with generators that they couldn’t use to de-water their house or provide heat because the gas stations didn’t have power. “This is a natural disaster situation in which our system could help.” Working with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), BAE Systems has submitted a demonstrator and is supporting a demonstration of the concept in other U.S. cities. BAE Systems believes that this extra functionality could help make the case for investing in hybrid buses even stronger.
While the bus market is the primary focus of BAE Systems’ HybriDrive Solutions business, it also works on a range of different platforms. The company is still very active in the military market, for example. BAE Systems has provided hybrid drive systems for military vehicles, helping them to make more efficient use of fuel in remote and dangerous locations. The company also offers HybriGen®, which has been referred to as a “bus in a box”. This solution takes the hybrid bus system and links to a generator, which could be on a base in a theatre of conflict. It helps to reduce fuel consumption. This technology has been used at home, too. In 2011, Endicott, home to BAE Systems’ HybriDrive Solutions business, was hit by a catastrophic flood, which displaced the company from its former facility. The company’s employees took HybriGen out, mounted it on a Humvee military automobile, and used it to help people in the local community who had been affected, supplying power to the pumps that were removing the floodwater. BAE Systems has been approached by various agencies about using hybrid buses as mobile generators in times of crisis. “The core capability is on the bus already because essentially what you have is a generator, being primed by a diesel engine,” explains John Hroncich, who works in strategy and market development at BAE Systems HybriDrive Solutions. “And it’s got a very large fuel tank, so with the addition of very few additional components you could pull up to a hospital and power their
John Hroncich: disaster relief capability
A fifth of transit buses in North America are now powered by CNG, compared to 13.2% diesel/electric hybrid. On the cost side, the CNG buses cost around $50,000 more than a conventional bus – the price of a hybrid vehicle is considerably higher. And cost of CNG in the US is now around $2 per gallon, or even less, compared to the $4 per gallon cost of diesel. It’s a big saving, but you have to burn a lot more CNG to travel the same distance. As long as the fuel price remains where it is, CNG is the less expensive option for operators in North America. But HybriDrive series delivers the greatest fuel savings and green house gas emissions as opposed to CNG vehicles and, unlike HybriDrive series, they are not part of a transition to an all-electric future.
Europe, and considered which ones were best suited to achieving the end goal of zero emissions. Eight powertrain concepts and their respective energy sources were analysed. Four internal combustion-based concepts: diesel, CNG, diesel parallel hybrid, and diesel serial hybrid. Additionally, four zero local-emission concepts were studied: hydrogen fuel cell, trolley, opportunity e-bus, and overnight e-bus. The study, ‘Urban buses:
alternative powertrains for Europe’, consulted eight major European bus manufacturers, and technology providers, including BAE Systems and bus operators. It concluded that while there is a limit to the reductions in local emissions and greenhouse gases that hybrid buses can achieve, they are an “attractive bridging technology for the medium term”. Crucially, elements of the hybrid bus powertrains are similar to those of zero local emission buses,
so their proliferation will therefore help these technologies to reach critical volumes. In short, hybrid series technology can help buses to make the leap to an all-electric, zero emission platform. One of the reasons why BAE Systems has chosen a series architecture (rather than parallel) as its main application in the bus market is that it offers a technology path that gets bus operators on a path to an all-electric bus.
2
THE BIG RIVAL – CNG
From day one, the series hybrid solution eliminates the need for the transmission, removing a major mechanical component. At the same time, the engine size can be reduced without any performance degradation. The next step has been to start eating into the accessory loads, using its battery management software that BAE Systems has developed. In addition, eliminating accessory loads, HybriDrive Series
4 | BAE SYSTEMS | North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution
PT_BAESysSupp_Overview.indd 4
23/01/2015 12:00
3
A major selling point of hybrid technology is the ability for bus operators to slash their fuel bills significantly. So what is the level of saving offered by the BAE Systems HybriDrive solution? “It varies depending on the duty cycle, anywhere from 20% to in some cases, on the most severe duty cycles, 40%, or maybe even 45%,” says Tom Webb, business development and national sales director at BAE Systems HybriDrive Solutions.
He points to studies undertaken in New York City by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), part of the US Department of Energy, found that savings could be well above 30%. Like London in the UK, New York City’s duty cycle does not represent what is seen elsewhere in the country – the average running speed is 6mph. The more severe the duty cycle with lower speeds and greater idling time offers the opportunity to make greater percentage savings in fuel efficiency, but Webb believes that average fuel saving is around 30%.
1 : BAE Systems HybriDrive articulated bus solution uses a higher powered motor/ generator, the HDS300, to accommodate the increased power demand of propelling a 60ft vehicle. An upgrade propulsion control system manages the increased energy demand to support a sustained top speed of 65mph on level road surfaces. 2 : The HDS200 and HDS300 propulsion systems comprise a Modular Traction system (MTS) which can connect to a diesel engine. The generator supplies power to the electric drive motor and electric accessories. The electric motor powers the bus by turning the wheels, just like a subway car. That means the bus accelerates smoothly; when the bus slows, the motor acts like a generator to recapture energy for later use. 3 : The Energy Storage System (ESS) uses a long-life lithium-ion battery to provide power during acceleration and store power during regenerative braking, making the bus more fuel efficient. 4 : The HybriDrive Accessory Power System (APS1) unit functions as an electronic alternator, completely replacing the conventional belt driven alternator. It provides more than enough electrical capacity to power all conventional electric loads, such as cooling fans and pumps, plus all hybrid cooling systems. 5 : HybriDrive Accessory Power System (APS2) supports full electrification of vehicle accessories. This unit provides all the benefits of APS1 unit while also supplying enough power for electrification of larger accessory loads (e.g. air compressors, power steering, and air conditioning) and enabling engine stop/start and electric vehicle (EV) modes. 6 : The optional HybriDrive Cooling Package (HCP) provides integrated, self-contained thermal management for the entire hybrid system and particularly supports the efficient use of APS1 and APS2. 7 : The Propulsion Control System (PCS) directs the power flow to the right place at the right time for increased efficiency and enables the use of electrically powered accessories.
Tom Webb: 'fuel savings of 20%-40%'
Systems HybriDrive Solutions. “Those things are coming. The market will converge on what’s considered a reasonable cost, but in the meantime we provide a solution that allows you to maximise your all-electric operation and performance at a reasonably good cost trade.” If all-electric battery buses or fuel cell buses emerge as mainstream solutions, BAE Systems can simply slot its HybriDrive components into these platforms.
“We’re right there,” says John Hroncich, who leads on strategy and market development at BAE Systems HybriDrive Solutions. “We’ve got a system that is fuel agnostic. We can go either way. Hroncich continues: “We look at it as a platform electrification. Our enemy is the mechanical systems. It’s just basic science that electric machines are more efficient. So how can we keep squeezing out those mechanical loads on the bus?” Q
4
7 6
1
FUEL SAVINGS
2
also offers the ability to operate for periods in all-electric mode. It’s a technology that is marching towards a zero emission end-state, but without the need for overnight charging or expensive infrastructure. “You want to operate as much electric as possible without having to spend two to three times that amount of money for a battery large enough or fuel cell technology,” explains Timothy Wells, program manager at BAE
North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution | BAE SYSTEMS | 5
PT_BAESysSupp_Overview.indd 5
23/01/2015 12:00
A P TA
HYBRID VEHICLES: MATURE AND IN THE MAINSTREAM ATPA president and CEO Michael Melaniphy expects the continued rapid adoption of greener vehicles
M
ichael Melaniphy has been involved in the development of hybrid buses in North America since the beginning. He served as general manager of Charlotte Transit, in North Carolina, between January 1998 and January 2001. During that time the operator tested one of the first four hybrid buses ever built in the United States and Melaniphy had the opportunity to drive it and operate it in simulated revenue service for a period of time. “All technologies have an infancy stage when they’re a little bit rough and quirky and that falls into that category,” he recalls. “But that’s OK. It’s neat to see the evolution from those very early days where you’re trying to figure out what did what and you were piecing things together.” Later, as vice president of Motor Coach Industries, he led the development of the first hybrid commuter coaches. In the years that have followed Melaniphy has watched hybrid-powered buses enter the mainstream. “It has become a very mature technology,” he says. And now, in his current role as president and CEO of APTA, the Washington-based American Public Transportation Association, Melaniphy is excited about the contribution that hybrid vehicles are making towards efforts to make public transport more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. APTA’s latest research shows that over two-fifths (40.4%) of US transit buses were using alternative
fuels or hybrid technology as of January 1, 2014. The most popular alternative fuel is natural gas – CNG, LNG and blends. This accounts for a fifth of the fleet (20.0%). But the fastest growth over the last decade has been in hybrid electric vehicles. They accounted for just 0.3% of the fleet in 2003, but by 2013 they accounted for more than one in eight (13.2%) transit buses. Melaniphy attributes the growing popularity of hybridpowered buses to advances in
battery technology, which have delivered better reliability and greater lifespans. These advances have also enabled the current push to electrify more of the vehicle. Melaniphy is excited about this development: “We want power steering, air conditioning and all these things to be run off electrical sources as opposed to the belt drive and parasitic draw off the engine.” He is also enthusiastic about the ability of the new generation of hybrid buses to operate in all-electric, silent mode.
He says that the rapid growth of hybrids has helped them to converge on price with natural gas-powered alternatives. “They’re within throwing distance of each other and that’s giving people options,” he says. The increasingly competitive pricing of hybrid and gas technologies has helped to drive their rapid expansion in bus fleets across North America. Their numbers have increased by an average of around 15% a year over the past two decades.
6 | BAE SYSTEMS | North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution
PT_BAESysSupp_Melaniphy.indd 6
23/01/2015 11:49
Pictured above: A parade of 'go green' branded hybrid buses in Cincinnati, Ohio, (top) and a hybrid bus on display in Ann Arbour, Michigan. Below: Michael Melaniphy, president and CEO of APTA, the Washington-based American Public Transportation Association
“We want to be good stewards of the tax dollars and we want to be good stewards of the community and the environment that we operate in … and so having these green fleets meets that mission” • “It’s very, very exciting,” says Melaniphy. “It’s far ahead of the automotive cycle, but that’s what’s so great about this industry - we have fleets of large vehicles that come home every night, great incubator places to mature the technology.” “The technology used to be huge and then it became smaller and smaller. You look at earlier hybrid drive systems and they were gigantic. They evolved so that you can put it into a small vehicle, like a passenger car. “It started in big buses and then it worked its way down. We’ve been able to help be that incubator and I think that’s an important role that public transportation plays.” Already at over 40%, Melaniphy expects the proportion of the US transit bus fleet powered by
alternative fuels to continue to grow significantly. And he hopes that having proved themselves in the bus sector, these technologies will proliferate in the automobile sector too. “Who’d have thought you’d see the day where there’d be a plug-in Porsche, right? And how cool is that?” he says. “I don’t see any reason for it not to continue.” The abundance of natural gas in North America has meant that gas-powered vehicles have become increasingly attractive. Melaniphy uses the city of Dallas, Texas, to illustrate this point. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) was an early adopter of liquified natural gas-fuelled vehicles. But the technology did not advance sufficiently as a transit fuel. So that fleet, along with the fleet fuelled by diesel, was replaced at the end of their service lives by compressed natural gas (CNG). Across the state, Houston’s transit agency, METRO, uses a mixture of hybrid and diesel buses. About 40% of the buses use hybrid technology. But the agency is now moving towards replacing buses in its fleet with CNG vehicles. The first 50 CNG buses are expected to hit the streets later this year. But gas isn't everyone's first choice. Many other bus operators are sticking with hybrid technology. “I expect there to be growth,” he says. “It’s green, it’s good for communities, the vehicles are quieter – the hybrids are much, much quieter.” In fact, the hybrid vehicles are so quiet that some of Melaniphy’s APTA members are rethinking how buses should interact with the communities they serve. “When you had big, loud, old diesel buses, people heard them, they saw them,” he explains. “Now that they glide by very quietly in this quiet electric mode, we have to make sure we’re doing things that alert pedestrians and those around us that we’re there, that we’re making right hand turns in crowded downtown areas and
things like that.” The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority in Ohio is leading the way here. It has done a lot of testing on audible and light technologies to provide alerts. Going forward, Melaniphy sees a role for both natural gas and hybrid technologies. He points out that one operator, Washington’s Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, commonly referred to as Metro, is finding room for both technologies in its 1,500-strong fleet. Its new vehicle orders are divided equally between CNG and hybrid. The explanation offered to him for this unique decision was: “If there’s a problem in my fleet, I never lose all my fleet. I only lose half my fleet.” Often, the choice comes down to infrastructure. In some places, natural gas is very accessible and very inexpensive, in other places it is not. “It’s really a policy decision from the board directors of these [transit] agencies,” says Melaniphy. “They want to pursue one path or another path and it’s more driven by what they want within their community.” Whichever choice they make, Melaniphy views alternative fuels technology in the context of a green, socially responsible sector. This is about more than just the vehicles. “It’s important to our credentials and of course it goes beyond that,” he says, “We’ve got a lot of bus garages now that have green roofs on them, recycling the wash-water, and walls that are made of hay bales - all these different technologies. “It’s really important to us because we’re all about helping people and their communities grow. You give people the opportunity to move around and be part of their community by riding public transit. We want to be good stewards of the tax dollars and we want to be good stewards of the community and the environment that we operate in … and so having these green fleets meets that mission. “It’s a walk the walk thing.” Q
North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution | BAE SYSTEMS | 7
PT_BAESysSupp_Melaniphy.indd 7
23/01/2015 11:50
FUEL CELL
ZERO EMISSION BUS? IT'S ALREADY HERE Fuel cell technology can deliver all-electric, emission-free buses today, but how long before it enters the mainstream?
B
AE Systems’ HybriDrive propulsion system can be used to deliver a full-electric vehicle today. The internal combustion engine in the conventional hybrid electric bus can be removed and replaced with energy storage in the form of either a larger battery or hydrogen fuel cell engine, thus creating a zero emission bus. Bob Devine, director of advance applications at BAE Systems HybriDrive Solutions, says the technology gap to zero emissions can be bridged easily. “When you start with a Series-E hybrid bus, you already have your accessory power system including all of your electric accessories, so getting to the fully electric, zero emission bus by simply removing the diesel enging adding energy storage is a relatively short putt," he explains. “That is because the majority of
the elements are already integrated and in place.” “In fact we have already done it. Working with California-based bus builder ElDorado National and fuel cell provider Ballard Power Systems, BAE Systems integrated the American Fuel Cell Bus. The bus was delivered to SunLine Transit Agency, which operates fuel cell buses in the Coachella Valley area of Southern California. The bus has performed well. Since then, SunLine Transit Agency has accepted two more fuel cell buses and they too are working well.” Devine continues: “We are world class platform integrators with proven systems. We actually, right out of the box, made it one of the most reliable fuel cell bus models in operation today anywhere in the world. Now there are others that are demonstrating some very impressive buses in Europe, but they’ve been at it for a lot longer than we have so our initial reliability really surprised some people.” The fuel economy has exceeded expectations and the 300-mile (480 km) typical range is better than a
CNG bus and as good as any diesel. Meanwhile, once the initial teething problems had been addressed, the vehicle quickly began to average the 85% availability target set by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). “This bus has done really well,” says Devine. “It’s out there racking up the miles.” BAE Systems and the broader team are now bullet-proofing the design so that it is available every time a driver gets into the cab. The bus is designed to be an all-weather bus for North America. Having tested the fuel cell buses in the heat of Southern California, where temperatures can reach 45°C in the summer, BAE Systems is now refining and testing the bus model to ensure that it can also perform well in extreme cold climates too, just like any other conventional bus. But the next phase is not just about validating the technology, it’s also about commercialising it. The first fuel cell bus was integrated by BAE Systems at its HybriDrive Solutions facility in New York. Now a more productionised
build line has been created at ElDorado’s manufacturing facility in Riverside, California, resulting in better efficiencies, quality, and refinements. Attention also has been paid to making maintenance easier. On the first vehicle some of the inspection points weren’t very accessible, and this has been corrected. Meanwhile, catwalks have been fitted over the hydrogen system so that maintainers can walk over the hydrogen storage tanks without stepping on them. “Another key part of the commercialisation is giving the purchaser a single supplier contact. In Europe, for example, you can purchase a fuel cell bus directly from manufacturers, but in our case, the program partners so far have worked together as a consortia. At this point we’re looking for OEMs to want to take on the manufacture of these kinds of buses,” says Devine. “We are not there yet but interest is increasing. “We’ve had meetings at high levels with bus OEMs and of course they’re very sales driven. They want to see the market develop before they’re willing to go in and invest in the market - and this is true also in Europe - it’s a chicken and egg issue. If you don’t fully commercialise and get the price point to where it needs to be, then you’re not going to get the volume, and you’re not going to get
A GREEN ECONOMY
BAE Systems HybriDrive Solutions is seeking to commercialise fuel cell technology
The green technology economy is more than just a misty vision, says Bob Devine of BAE Systems HybriDrive Solutions. It’s real, and BAE Systems is part of it. In California, the state government’s policies have created green technology jobs that are as sustainable as their environmental credentials. This is vital because it enables companies like BAE Systems to demonstrate that every dollar invested in green technologies like fuel cell buses stays in the economy, and creates value as it is recycled many times.
SunLine's 'FC3' fuel cell-powered bus
8 | BAE SYSTEMS | North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution
PT_BAESysSupp_FuelCell.indd 8
23/01/2015 11:47
the volume until you get the price point to where it needs to be.” So what’s the solution to this chicken and egg conundrum? “To quote Bert De Colvenaer, executive director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, you’ve got to cook them both,” Devine says. “You can’t just say I am going to solve one before the other. You’ve got to work them both at the same time. All of the stakeholders involved are going to have to take a certain level of risk. “I believe that Europe has done an outstanding job in making progress in the commercialisation of zero emissions technology. An example of this is the recent announcement by the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking that five major manufacturers along with government leaders have committed to commercialisation and market introduction of fuel cell buses with a goal of 500 to 1,000 buses delivered by 2020.” The BAE Systems-ElDorado consortia has won further programs to supply a total of 10 fuel cell vehicles to places such as Boston, the University of California at Irvine, Canton, Ohio, Ithaca, New York, and Flint, in northern Michigan. Flint should prove an interesting test ground for operation in extreme cold weather – the city had 86 inches
Bob Devine, director of new ventures
FUEL CELL BUS TO BE TESTED Bob Devine, director of advance applications at BAE Systems HybriDrive Solutions, is enthusiastic about a new Federal Transportation Administration project with CALSTART and SunLine Transit called the "Battery Dominant Fuel Cell Bus". The goal of this project is to explore the economic and performance benefits of an architecture that utilises a small, low cost fuel cell coupled with a significantly larger battery thus blending the best aspects of both of today's zero emissions technology. The bus is essentially a Zero Emissions Hybrid Electric Bus with a large battery and a small (fuel cell) engine. “What’s interesting about this architecture is that it you get all of the range and route independence features of a fuel cell bus plus the economic benefits and charging flexibility of a battery electric bus.”
SUNLINE SEEKS GREEN SOLUTIONS The first BAE Systems fuel bus is known as ‘FC3’ by SunLine Transit Agency – it’s the seventh fuel cell vehicle that the agency has operated. Based in the Coachella Valley area of Southern California, air quality is a key concern of the approximately 100-vehicle fleet operator. SunLine transit is a pioneer and leader in adopting low and zero emission technology and demonstrating a path to mainstream use. The low lying desert valley is in an air quality non-attainment zone that suffers from emissions that can blow across from more densely populated areas.
(220cm) of snow last winter. BAE Systems is starting to consider fuel cell and electric markets outside of the US. “We are ready to provide zero emissions solutions to OEMs in Europe too, and that might be what’s next for us,” says Devine. Fuel cell buses currently cost well upwards of $1m, but Devine believes that they will come down over time. “We think there’s a pathway to get the price down to about half of what they are today and we see some bus manufacturers and suppliers both in Europe and North America that are already committed to that path,” he says. Price reductions will of course require volume production. However, returning to the chicken and egg conundrum, Devine concedes that it will be difficult to build this volume while the vehicles are so much more expensive than conventional buses. The incentive may come in the form of carrot and stick policies from government, at both federal and state level. Subsidies and grants can provide the carrot, while mandatory requirements, such as requiring a certain percentage of a fleet to be zero emission, can provide the stick. This can offer a kick start, but in the end, the willingness of fleets to engage in the purchase of larger quantites and the supply chain and stakeholders
to take on and effectively manage risks is what is needed. Devine says that the best way to achieve reductions in the price of vehicles is more competition in the supply chain, all the way up to having at least two OEMs competing for orders. But that will require sufficient volume in the market for everyone to play for. “So it’s kind of a one-two combination punch of funding, then competition resulting in market expansion; then funding, more competition, and more expansion.” Devine is confident that the market will move in the right direction. “Anyone who wants zero emission, is going to be able to have it,” he says. But when? “I really don’t know the timescales that we’re on. I’d like to think that I’m going to be around to see these zero emission buses everywhere, operated by anyone who wants to have it.” However long it takes, Devine believes that BAE Systems will continue to help to drive it forward and see it through. “We are a company that can be trusted to take a leading role in delivering advanced solutions that enhance the capability and performance of vehicles and power systems for the benefit of our customer and the public at large.” Q
“The medical community has long been able to measure increased incidences of serious illness, including long term detrimental effect that poor air quality has on children especially those with asthma and other respiratory problems. The health issues have significantly improved as a result of changes that have been made in air quality not only in the Cochella Valley, but in the areas west of them, there is still a long way to go,” says Bob Devine of BAE Systems HybriDrive Solutions. Meanwhile, SunLine Transit has an ongoing mission of education and outreach and have communicated the benefits of the green technology
they have employed to the local community. SunLine even has its own learning centre where they bring kids in from all levels, from kindergarten to college freshmen, and teach them about the clean technologies that they’ve helped pioneer. “These folks at SunLine tend to be a pretty tight-knit, well-aligned group who are organised and focused and they get it done,” says Devine. “They’re a little bit unique and a great example for others.”
North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution | BAE SYSTEMS | 9
PT_BAESysSupp_FuelCell.indd 9
23/01/2015 11:47
G R E E N OP E R ATOR S
Dave Kilmer (pictured), executive director of Lancaster's Red Rose Transit Authority, plans to make his organisation's 43-vehicle fleet hybrid-powered by the end of the decade
TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE Hybrid technology is helping Red Rose Transit Authority’s eco-minded boss to achieve his green vision
D
avid Kilmer has a dream. He’s looking forward to a time when bus operators are completely self-sufficient in terms of their energy needs. An impossible dream? Kilmer thinks not. His organisation, Red Rose Transit Authority, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is already heading in this direction and
hybrid-powered vehicles are a central part of its plan. Studying at Penn State University in the 1970s, Kilmer majored in environmental resource management and, like many others, he says he ended up in public transit “kind of by accident”. But he never lost his interest in green technologies. In fact, Kilmer’s 35year career in public transport has provided him with an opportunity to apply some of the knowledge he acquired in his college days. As executive director at RRTA, Kilmer has sought out government
funding for an impressive array of environmentally-friendly projects. The roof of RRTA’s depot is covered with 641 solar panels, providing around 60% of the company’s on-site energy requirements. A kiosk in the lobby enables Kilmer to proudly show visitors real time data about how much energy is being generated by the solar panels, and the greenhouse gases that are therefore being avoided. Further energy is provided by 21 geo-thermal pipes, which reach 500 feet into the ground beneath the site. The installation of a waste oil burner has meant that the company did not have to buy-in heating oil for four years before the extreme low temperatures of last winter. Skylights have been installed throughout the facility, letting in natural light. Sensors control the level of light required so that as
natural daylight comes up, the lights and the energy required to power them goes down. And then there is RRTA’s fleet of hybrid electric buses. There are currently five hybrids in the 43-strong fleet, and a further 10 have recently been ordered. Kilmer has favoured hybrid technology despite a big push for natural gas in Pennsylvania - large quantities of it are now being extracted under the ground in the northern part of the state, making the price increasingly competitive. But Kilmer would rather use less energy, rather than simply substitute one form of energy (diesel) for another (gas). “With natural gas, what’s funny is that it’s actually less fuel efficient than just using straight diesel, so … that doesn’t help reduce our operating cost any,” he says. “And actually, when you look at the stuff coming out of the stack,
10 | BAE SYSTEMS | North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution
PT_BAESysSupp_Operator.indd 10
23/01/2015 11:52
so to speak, at the engine, they claim it’s cleaner than the diesel but it’s different emissions. You’re actually increasing the greenhouse gases out of this smoke stack on natural gas.” “So my philosophy was … I’d rather just use less and then tell the oil companies to take their oil … and we’ve had a real good experience of it.” RRTA acquired two hybrid vehicles in 2012. The company opted for the HybriDrive propulsion solution offered by BAE Systems, provided via Gillig, the California-based OEM. “So far we’re getting more than 30% better fuel economy compared to a straight diesel, and even with a fleet our size I figured that ... we use 350,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year, so if I can reduce that by 30% or more, that’s a significant saving. “And if we are using 30% less then we’re obviously polluting 30% less.” Meanwhile, eliminating the transmission from the vehicle has helped to cut maintenance costs. The two most recent additions to RRTA’s hybrid fleet feature BAE Systems’ HybriDrive Series. On these vehicles, the latest generation technology has enabled the air conditioning and power steering to be electrified. Commenting on the electrified power steering, Kilmer says: “They steer so easy, it’s amazing now. The drivers love them, because they can almost do it with one finger. I don’t want them doing it with one finger, but they can do it with one finger if they want to.” The public seems to like the vehicles as well. “When we first got the hybrids, I had a customer who just walked up to me and said ‘Dave, I really like the new buses they’re so much quieter’,” says Kilmer. “The engine’s only running to recharge the batteries, so it can run at constant RPMs and you don’t hear that roar when a bus pulls away from a bus stop, where you kick it in.” Kilmer believes that a growing
number of people are interested in the green credentials of these vehicles and RRTA has produced advertisements that seek to raise awareness of this aspect of their service. As the father of a 21-year-old son, he has observed that the environment appears to be a bigger consideration for the younger generation. “You know, we’re finding in the United States now that younger people want to move downtown. They don’t want to be out in the suburbs,” he says. “If they didn’t have to buy a car, I think they’d love it because they see it as an added expense and a drain on their budgets, and I think they’re looking at the environmental aspects of it too. “They’re looking at public transit as being the green alternative, and part of that is that you don’t want to have a bus that when you hit the gas peddle all this black smoke comes out the back. “You don’t see that with the newer engines and the hybrids that just doesn’t happen.” Although Lancaster has a population of just 60,000, there is talk about introducing bike sharing and car sharing to enable smarter, greener travel. RRTA already has bike lockers at its transit centre and there are bike racks on the front of all of its buses. Once the latest order for 10 buses has been delivered, hybrids will represent a third of the fleet. Kilmer is looking forward to the day when the entire fleet is
hybrid-powered. He expects this to be achieved by 2020. By that time of course the technology is expected to have evolved even further, becoming more fuel efficient and perhaps even 100% all-electric. Kilmer’s dream is for buses to be as self-sufficient and sustainable as the Amish horse and carts that are still commonplace in the area that surrounds Lancaster: “I need an OEM that can make a bus with solar panels that have evolved enough so the entire roof of the bus is a solar panel generating enough energy to run the vehicle. That would be my optimal bus.” “Or have enough solar panels here [at the depot] and the technology that we can generate enough power and somehow store and then recharge the buses when they come in every night.” Does Kilmer really believe that this is a realistic aspiration? “I really think at some point it will get to that,” he says. “I could see that happening because the technology is already there, it’s just about how we refine it. “I think at some point, hopefully, just like with a lot of things, there’s that one major breakthrough like there was with the computers when they got to that chip that replaced a storage system that was the size of this office with a little chip. That’s the kind of leap in technology that will be made that will allow that to happen. “I think that would be pretty cool.” Q
One of the two most recent additions to RRTA's fleet, featuring BAE's HybriDrive Series-E
A new King County Metro bus, equipped with BAE's HybriDrive Series E system
SEAT TLE – A HYBRID PIONEER Seattle’s King County Metro Transit was an early adopter of hybrid technology. The company took delivery of its first batch of hybrid buses in 2002 and today it operates around 690 of them, comprising almost 40% of its 1,758-strong fleet. BAE Systems partnered with the bus builder Orion to supply King County Metro Transit with 199 full size hybrid buses between 2010 and 2012. As the eighth largest transit agency in the U.S., Randy Winders, vehicle maintenance manager at King County Metro Transit, says that the resources are available to undertake a comprehensive analysis of all of the available options. And, having opted for the Orion/BAE Systems package, they have kept a close eye on how the vehicles have performed in service. Winders says that vehicles are covering around six miles per gallon, making them 30% and 50% more efficient than the vehicles they have replaced. Meanwhile, there has been positive feedback from the company’s drivers, who welcome the smooth ride and fast acceleration. The next step in what Winders and his colleagues call the “electrification” of the bus is to take some of the accessory loads off the engine. This year will see King County Metro Transit take delivery of a further 120 hybrid buses, this time featuring the new BAE Systems HybriDrive Series system. These vehicles were originally ordered from Orion, but the order was transferred to New Flyer following the closure of Orion in 2012. “We are always looking for those technologies to advance electrification and make our community green,” says Winders.
North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution | BAE SYSTEMS | 11
PT_BAESysSupp_Operator.indd 11
23/01/2015 11:52
North America's Hybrid Bus Revolution | BAE SYSTEMS | 1
PT_BAESysSupp_OBC.indd 1
23/01/2015 12:03