METRO’s hybird buses showcased
Houston Metro Transit will showcase its newest buses, powered by a clean hybrid technology from GM Allison Electric Drives, this week at the Clean Cities Heavy-Duty Vehicles workshop.
General Motors Allison Clean Hybrid Technology Powers Additions To Houston Metro Transit
11/19/03 Autofan.com
HOUSTON - With the help of a grant from the Clean Cities/Clean Vehicles program, Houston Metro has added four of the hybrid transit buses to its fleet. The vehicles are part of a GM Allison “preview program” to test the new technology, putting Houston in the vanguard of the movement to reduce smog with a new generation of environmentally friendly transit buses. The 40-foot hybrid diesel-electric coaches feature the GM Allison hybrid system.
The GM hybrid system delivers up to 60 percent better fuel economy than conventional diesel powered urban transit buses. Buses equipped with the system produce much lower hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions than conventional buses, lowering particulate (tiny pieces of soot and dust), hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by up to 90 percent, and emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOX) by up to 50 percent.
Buses outfitted with Allison Electric Drives also deliver 50 percent better acceleration than conventional diesel buses, because the coach uses the superior torque of electric motors to launch from a stop.
“General Motors’ hybrid strategy focuses on first applying hybrid technology to the highest fuel consuming vehicles, such as transit buses and full size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles,” said Tom Stephens, group vice president of GM Powertrain. “For example, replacing the 13,000 buses operating in the nine largest transit markets in the United States with our hybrid technology would result in annual savings of more than 40 million gallons of fuel, equivalent to more than half a million small hybrid passenger vehicles.”
The GM Allison hybrid system is applicable to a broad range of commercial transit and trucking applications. These include standard and articulated transit buses, suburban coaches, military vehicles and medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The system is compatible with contemporary vehicle architectures. Allison hybrid systems now power buses for transit agencies in Austin, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Portland, Orange County, Calif. and Seattle, which will soon take delivery of over 200 of the GM hybrid-propelled buses for the King County Transit fleet.