The latest in low carbon

James Day attends the 10th annual Cenex Low Carbon Vehicle Event at Milbrook and lists some of the highlights for the coach and bus industry

Now in it’s 10th year, Cenex’s Low Carbon Vehicle Event (LCV) at Millbrook Proving Ground has grown massively in the decade it has been running.

Opening the event on September 6, outgoing Cenex Chairman, Brendon Connor, quipped that the first event featured 10 vehicles (only two of which worked properly on the day) and lasted for four hours. Now, the event features a vast array of the motor industry’s most high tech green vehicles and runs for two days, with an extensive seminar programme and a plethora of ride and drive opportunities. It is a real staple in the industry calendar for any business interested in developments in this sector.[wlm_nonmember][…]

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What follows are some of the highlights from this year’s event.

AVID Technology

AVID Technology was promoting its eFan Micro Hybrid System, which it said is a unique integrated cooling module for buses.

The system uses specially designed electric fans to replace large single hydraulic fans commonly found at the back of a bus. It is electronically controlled to optimise the running temperature of the engine and minimise the amount of energy consumed.

The AVID system uses high-performance bar-and-plate heat exchangers, which the company claims are both resistant to impact damage and easy to clean, increasing their useful life compared to conventional tube fin style heat exchangers.

The fans can be reversed to suck any gathered debris out of the heat exchanger, which helps to eliminate some of the time consuming and challenging cleaning procedures which would otherwise be required.

In late March this year, AVID partnered with GKN Hybrid Power to produce electric motors. The company took over the existing EVO motors and the development of EVO technology, as it is looking to deliver new variants of the motor in future.

Bassadone Motor Group

A new face at the event this year was Bassadone Motor Group, a company which is responsible for distributing vehicles from Chinese manufacturer FDG.

Though the company had a relatively small indoor stand and had not brought along any vehicles, it was promoting a wide range of electric buses, and is now considering making an entrance into the UK market.

The range includes the eGlory, a minibus typically specified with 10-23 seats depending on wheelbase and customer requirements. It can be provided in pure electric form, where its range is stated to be around 200km, or as an extended range version which can cover 450km. The batteries on each version of the vehicle can be charged to 80% capacity in the space of one hour.

The next stage up is the eBoss midicoach, which has a maximum seating capacity of 25 and a similar range to the eGlory.

Lastly, a single-decker city bus rounds out the FDG electric bus range – the eZone. This vehicle is available in three main configurations. The largest, the Z12, is 12m in length, with a range of up to 400km and a maximum capacity varying from 80-90, depending on the amount of space devoted to range extending batteries. The Z10, at 10.5m, offers a range of 180 or 290km, each with a capacity of 87, though the longer range vehicle cannot seat as many passengers. Finally, the Z08, at 8.5m, can carry a maximum of 76 passengers, which can be reduced to 70 to extend the range to 256km.

Iain Falconer of Bassadone Motor Group explained that some councils are expected to trial vehicle in the FDG range from February to March next year.

Brigade Electronics

It’s important to have your wits about you when attending LCV. As with many vehicle shows, vehicles of various sizes are constantly being moved around to demonstrate their capabilities, but at LCV, almost all of them are completely silent. It’s not uncommon for unwitting delegates to wonder out in front of a silent electric vehicle.

Brigade Electronics is working to solve this issue with its new electric vehicle sounder. The system was being demonstrated on-board a Vauxhall Ampera electric estate car, though it can easily be installed on electric vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

The sounder works by broadcasting a multi-frequency tonal sound which is directional and locatable. This means that the electric vehicle can still help the operator cut down on the noise pollution the vehicle generates while keeping pedestrians safe, because the sound is only heard in the hazard zone.

The sound emulates a combustion engine, increasing in intensity and changing tone as the vehicle increases its speed, and even broadcasting when the vehicle is idle but in drive mode. The sound cuts out above a given speed threshold, so it is not needlessly broadcasting on motorways.

Tony Bowen of Brigade said: “All new electric commercial vehicles and PSVs will have to have some form of sounder, as legislation has just been signed off to require it.

“As more and more vehicles enter service with sounders, operators and authorities will have to make the decision about whether to retrofit the system, but all vehicles old or new must have it by 2021.”

Eberspächer UK

Climate control specialist Eberspächer was at the event explaining how it had been working to complement low carbon vehicles with its heating and air-conditioning products.

Some electric vehicles are not truly zero emission because they use diesel heaters. This is because electric climate control systems limit the range which vehicles are able to travel on a single charge. Since electric drives generate significantly less heat than combustion engines, they can be much more challenging to heat.

Richard Cotton, Engineering Project Manager at Eberspächer, said: “We’re working in partnerships with OEMs to develop new techniques which lessen the impact electric climate control systems have on the drivetrain. For example, the Optare Metrodecker at this event does not use diesel heating.

“It’s a case of looking at what you want to achieve in a vehicle and doing it in the most efficient way.”

To work towards this goal, Eberspächer is working on heaters which heat the air directly, instead of heating coolant. This gets the heat into the saloon more quickly. The system has already seen use in the electric Tesla Roadster.

“We applied the same technology to ADL’s virtual electric double-deckers,” Richard said. “Three are in operation in London, with a further two in Bristol. The vehicles have electric drive and conventional diesel engines, and use geofencing to switch to pure electric in low emission areas. This means that a heater is required to heat the vehicle when the combustion engine is not running.

“The big advantage on the virtual electrics is that the system is very responsive. Because it heats the air, it can take over very quickly.”

Iveco
While the Iveco range at the event did not include any coaches or buses, a pair of Iveco Daily vans were on display – one electric, the other powered by CNG.

Both of these options are theoretically available in the guise of a minibus to any operator who asks for them. Indeed, an electric Daily has already been delivered to Stanford Coachworks.

Up to four batteries can be carried onboard the electric vehicle, depending on the requirements of the operator. This means its range can be as as high as 280kms. A fast charge option is also available, as is regenerative braking.

The vehicle is available up to a weight of 5.6 tonnes straight from the factory, and can be supplied as a minibus, with no conversion required.

Magtec

Sheffield-based Magtec is no stranger to LCV and has exhibited multiple times, but this year involved perhaps the largest line-up of vehicles utilising its engine technology.

The company brought five buses to event. An 18-tonne Wrightbus double-decker and 12-tonne Dennis Dart, both retrofitted vehicles, appeared on its stand. Transdev’s York City Sightseeing retrofitting open-top Trident, along with an Optare Solo in the colours of The Big Lemon, carried out Park & Ride duties, along with an Optare Metrodecker EV, which carried TfL’s electric vehicle livery and was leant by First.

On top of this, Magtec demonstrated that its electric technology is also applicable for trucks, and brought three HGVs ranging from 7.5 tonnes to 26 tonnes.

On the double-decker side, Magtec has now retrofitted on Volvo B9TL and B7TL chassis, ADL Enviro400 and Enviro400H and Wrightbus DB250. This change in drive costs from £30,000 and offers a five year warranty, with grants available.

Single-decker retrofits undertaken so far include Optare Solo and Versa, ADL Enviro200 and Dennis Dart, with similar costs and warranty.

Simon Buckley, Commercial Manager at Magtec, explained: “Our repower business has been developing well. We’ve shipped a few vehicles to Spain and thanks to big leaps in battery technology, we’re now able to offer ranges of 160 miles on a single charge on an electric double-decker, which would have offered 70-100 miles in the past. A single decker can now achieve 200 miles.”

Simon also stated that the Magtec product did not add a significant amount of unladen weight to the vehicle, allowing passenger capacity to be preserved.

“The Optare Metrodecker with our tech onboard can carry 95 passengers and weighs in at 18 tonnes. The BYD equivalent can only carry 72 and weighs 19 tonnes,” he said.

Magtec has continued to grow and now has two sites – one in Sheffield and another in Rotherham, effectively doubling the size of the company.

Pelican Bus & Coach

An electric Yutong E12 in the livery of Tower Transit-owned Go Whippet was shown on the stand of Pelican Bus & Coach.

Richard Crump, Managing Director of Pelican, explained that while the 12m vehicle has been a success in trials, it may act as the precursor to the upcoming 10.8m E10, which the company hopes will be a big seller.

“The E10 has been primarily designed for TfL,” said Richard. “It will initially be brought over with a two-door setup, though we have had it type-approved for both single and twin-door specifications.

“The first two E10s will start trials in London from January.”

While the vehicle is new to the UK market, Richard explained that it is still a thoroughly tried-and-tested vehicle.

“The driveline is identical to that which is currently used on 45,000 buses currently operating in China,” he explained. “The only change is the way the vehicle is packaged.

“In China, the vehicle has a two step entrance and a higher floor. This means the batteries are all incorporated beneath the floor throughout the vehicle.

“The UK version is different because of its low-floor. Instead, seven of its 12 batteries are placed on the roof, with the other five towards the rear of the vehicle.”

The vehicle will use single drive, rather than hub motors used on some other electric buses. Hub motors tend to be commonplace in Europe, where three-door operation is common, but Richard said they were not a necessity in the UK market because it is rare for vehicles to have three-door operation, and even the TfL-spec E10 will only have two.

The single drive can be more neatly packaged towards the rear of the vehicle and easily accessed through a hatch in the saloon floor. This also keeps it out of reach of road debris.

Richard said he expects to bring an electric Yutong articulated bus to the UK next year, with an electric double-decker to follow the year after.

“We want to be a seriously player in the electric bus market specifically, not necessarily the whole bus market,” he said. “Yutong produced 22,000 electric buses globally last year, so it is well placed to push down that route.”

Asked whether an electric coach is potentially on the way, Richard replied: “The trouble with electric coaches is they require so much more climate control than buses.

“If you board a coach, you expect to be on it for a while and for it to be comfortable. This means it needs air-conditioning in the summer and good heating in the winter, whereas this often isn’t required on buses which people might only be on for a few minutes. In the winter, they might not even take off their coat, for example.

“This takes a lot out of the batteries, which restricts the range, and there isn’t much of a market for city centre coaches. I could imagine selling electric coaches to an operator transferring people from Heathrow into London, but not enough to make it a viable market yet. Battery technology will need to come along a lot further.”

SPAL Automotive

The cooling fans and demisters seen on many coaches and buses are provided by SPAL Automotive, and the company attended LCV to demonstrate that its technology could be used to effectively cool the batteries used in electric vehicles. Indeed, the rather impression Ariel Hipercar, a 1,100bhp monster of a supercar on display at the event, used SPAL technology, showing how versatile the equipment is.

Andy Saracino-Clift, Aftermarket Business Development Manager at SPAL, explained: “With the winter months approaching, it’s just getting becoming busy season for us.

“When it’s wet outside and you have 40-50 people boarding a bus, you’re going to have problems with windows steaming up, which is where our demisting products come in.”

Andy explained that the company had recently overcome the challenge of lower quality, cheaper imported products over the last 18 months, by demonstrating the quality of its own.

“Fitting these products was not an easy five minute job, and after a short time the cheaper imports started to fail,” he said.

“Engineers were saying how much easier and more reliable our systems are. It’s a fit and forget product. You rarely have to worry about it until it reaches the end of its useful life.”

Andy also added that the company was excited by the developments in the electric vehicle sector.

“Batteries get hot when charging or during use, and that will generate a lot of requirement for our product,” he added.

Siemens ITS

The Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS) division of Siemens was demonstrating how it is supporting the installation of electric vehicle infrastructure throughout the UK.

One example of a vehicle charging point for which Siemens provides support was a rather clever system from Ubitricity, which was neatly disguised within the base of a lamppost. The point could be installed for as little as £150, though it requires a more expensive attachment brought by the vehicle owner/operator to use.

The company also provides technology to help manage the distribution of energy to multiple charging points and offers its own QC45 rapid charger, which the company claims is capable of charging a vehicle from zero to 80% in 30 minutes and allows simultaneous charging of two vehicles; DC and AC.

Westfield Sportscars Ltd

Autonomous vehicles had a significant presence this year, with plenty of talks on the subject in the various seminar rooms.

Westfield Sportscars Ltd brought along an autonomous pod, liveried in the branding of the Greenwich Gateway project. Though the example on display was around six years old and had been used mostly on guided roadways at Heathrow, Andrew Frost, Head of Deployment and Trials at Westfield, explained that the vehicle had developed significantly since then.

“We bought the IP from Heathrow after it developed a basic version of the vehicle,” he explained.

“Since then, we’ve started building them with a more modern carbon-fibre construction, and they are self-driving vehicles capable of running on unguided roads, utilising a combination of GPS positioning, short-wave radar and ultrasonics to navigate and avoid obstacles, along with onboard cameras.”

The first trial of the pods in a public area, where they will share the road space with pedestrians and cyclists, is expected to begin this October. They transport passengers around the Ecology Park at the Millennium Village in Greenwich, taking them to the Thames Clipper stop and the Skyline cable car.

While the Birmingham-built vehicles are slow, travelling at an average speed of 4mph, they are very advanced and approaching level five autonomy.

This means they are on the brink of never requiring the involvement of a driver whatsoever.

“The main reason the vehicles are level four autonomous rather than level five is that the machine learning isn’t quite there yet,” Andrew said.

“For example, we had one instance where we calibrated the vehicles at 0700hrs and when they were released at 0900hrs, their failsafes kicked in and they stopped, because they detected a black line along the edge of the road which hadn’t been there before. This black line was simply the shadow of a handrail. The machines are not yet advanced enough to recognise and learn for themselves that this is not an obstacle.

“It’s like learning to drive – the machines need to be taught what is safe and what isn’t, but they are not at the point yet where they can do that automatically. Insurance and legislation also needs to catch up.”

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