Technology from the electric Nissan LEAF, introduced in the Netherlands in March 2011, will be reused in a new electric city bus developed in Japan features technology developed by Nissan for Nissan LEAF. The bus will be tested in February in Kumamoto City, a city in western Japan.
The development of the electric city bus is part of a project by Kumamoto University from Kumamoto City and Japan's Ministry of Environment. The project aims to reduce or completely eliminate CO2 and other emissions from large vehicles such as buses and trucks. The project is led by Kumamoto University.
Yoka ECO Bus
The electric bus being developed within this project is called the 'Yoka ECO Bus' and features technology familiar from the Nissan LEAF. For instance, the bus will be equipped with three batteries, three electric motors and an inverter from the electric passenger car. The car manufacturer is also developing a new gearbox for the city bus and will provide technical support for the vehicle.
By reusing existing passenger car technology, the parties involved aim to keep the development costs of the Yoka ECO Bus low. "We hope to improve the environment in Japan by standardising the production of electric buses using knowledge from car manufacturers," said Toshiro Matsuda, senior lecturer at Kumamoto University and leader of the Yoka ECO Bus project. "Our goal is to develop electric buses with a good balance between environmental friendliness and low development costs."
Proterra Catalyst E2 max
The Yoka ECO Bus is not the first electric bus to be developed. Such buses have been available for some time. On Maakindustrie, for instance, we previously wrote about the Proterra Catalyst E2 max, a 12-metre-long electric bus aimed at the US market. This bus covered a record distance of 1,772.21 kilometres on a single battery charge in 2017. The Catalyst 2E max features a battery with a capacity of 660 kWh.
The Catalyst E2 max is part of Proterra's Catalyst series of electric buses. These buses are available in different versions, aimed at different applications. For example, the Catalyst FC series features a battery that can be recharged in 10 to 13 minutes via charging stations placed at bus stops and stations. This allows the vehicles to be recharged during regular stops on a bus's route, allowing uninterrupted operation. The FC series is mainly intended for traditional bus routes where buses regularly stop at bus stops and stations.
In addition to the FC range, Proterra also supplies the XR range, with a range of 220 to 310 kilometres and a charging time of less than three hours. In addition, the company supplies the E2 range, the version of the Catalyst city bus with the greatest range. The E2 offers a range of over 400 kilometres and can be charged in less than 3.5 hours. The E2+ has a maximum range of nearly 490 kilometres and a charging time of less than 4 hours. The E2 max has the greatest range at 560 kilometres. This canister can be fully charged in less than 5 hours. The XR and E2 series are mainly aimed at long bus journeys where buses need to run for longer periods on a single battery charge.
The Hague and Utrecht test electric city bus
Electric buses have also been in use in the Netherlands for some time. In 2017, for instance, an electric city bus was experimented with in The Hague and Utrecht. This bus was brought over from Vienna, where electric buses have been used on two city lines since 2012. In The Hague, HTM tested the bus on the route between The Hague Central Station and the Norfolk site in Scheveningen, among other places. In Utrecht, the bus was deployed by U-OV on Museum Line 2.
The bus is equipped with a pantograph that can draw enough power from a charging station within eight minutes to recharge the battery. These charging stations are placed in the immediate vicinity of a tram network and use excess braking energy that trams return to the overhead line to charge the electric bus. The bus is equipped with batteries with a capacity of 98kWh and charging technology developed by Siemens. The maximum range of the buses is about 50 kilometres.
Incidentally, electric buses have been operated in Utrecht for some time; two electric buses have been running on line 2 since 2013, and a further 10 electric buses have been deployed between the districts of Overvecht and Hoograven since August 2017. From 2024, the province of Utrecht wants to drive only environmentally friendly buses with zero emissions. The experience gained during the Vienna electric city bus trial will be used by the province of Utrecht when replacing part of U-OV's bus fleet starting in 2019.
Syntus orders electric buses from BYD
Another example is Syntus, which announced in April 2017 that it had ordered nine electric buses from Chinese manufacturer BYD. Two of these buses will be used in Amersfoort, while the remaining seven will operate in Almere. They are the first electric buses that Syntus will deploy as standard in its timetable. The buses will hit the road in 2018. At Schiphol Airport, some 35 BYD electric buses have been in operation since 2015. These are charged via solar panels at the airport.
It is not known if and when the Yoka ECO Bus will be launched on the market.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Nissan (pictured)
Source: Proterra
Source: Province of Utrecht
Source: Syntus
