Jonathan Welch speaks to Scania’s Mark Oliver about the firm’s latest developments and plans for its new generation of battery electric products
With both war in Ukraine and an ongoing pandemic, the turbulent external environment is continuing,’ says Scania’s group-wide interim report for the first half of this year. ‘Rising inflation and increased interest rates are also adding to the uncertainty. Despite this, economic activity is still high,’ it continues. The manufacturer reports net sales unchanged compared to the previous year and amounted to SEK 74,690m (£5,991m), with net sales up by 2% in the second quarter of last year.
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Christian Levin, Scania’s President and CEO, noted in his preface to the report that during the second quarter of the year, truck deliveries decreased by 25% while bus and coach deliveries increased by 36%. Since CBW was unable to attend the recent coach and bus showcase event at Scania’s headquarters in Södertälje, Sweden, I took the opportunity to catch up with Scania UK’s new Bus, Coach and Power Solutions Sales Director Mark Oliver to find out about how the events of the last couple of years have affected the coach and bus market, the manufacturer’s current line-up, and its path to a zero-emission future.
Generations of experience
Mark is in his 27th year with Scania, and the fourth generation of his family to be involved in the transport sector, with his son set to follow in his footsteps to become the fifth generation. “My great grandfather had a couple of charabancs and was taking people to the coast at the turn of the century,” he explained. “I’m from a technical background, I’ve worked my way up through the ranks of technician, senior technician, and then joined Scania as a technical instructor at our training centre in Loughborough. I was appointed Technical Services Manager, which covered everything that is aftersales technical training, support and engineering.
“I was seconded to a number of other roles, including supporting Scania India and Malaysia. Then in 2012 I was asked to head the Bus & Coach fleet department. Scania’s intention was to bring a commercial and technical role into the fleet sales department. When you’re dealing with large groups and municipals it’s very tender-based, and from a fleet point of view elements such as operating cost and economy are important.
“That led to the conclusion of some very successful tenders, one being National Express which we’ve been proud to be part of since 2014, and still supply chassis today in partnership with Caetano. Another key achievement was the introduction of the Alexander Dennis diesel, Stagecoach being a big supporter of that product in particular. Then there’s the gas bus product in service with Nottingham City Transport, First Bristol and Reading Buses. That’s how I moved through the company, then at the start of this year I was proud to be asked to take on the role of Sales Director. There are going to be some significant changes, and I approach them with excitement, encouragement and a willingness to supply a quality product that our customers enjoy operating and have done for many years.”
No more gas
Picking up on his comments about the gas buses, I asked Mark whether the firm had plans going forward for the gas bus chassis. “Although it is a great example of a sustainable product and is quite significant in turning waste into fuel, the drive for zero emissions has pushed that development to one side. If you look at gas propulsion and the recent discussions towards the end sales of internal combustion engine sales, this does have an impact on the future development of gas buses. And now that Scania is moving forward into a new generation of products, the decision has been made that we will not be pursuing gas bus development for the new generation.
“Operators who are successfully operating our gas product already have the number they need, and we were keen to ensure we supported them and made sure that they were able to obtain the number they required. Nottingham City Transport is receiving its last batch of gas buses in the very near future. Whilst it was a good example of sustainability, it is the zero-emission policy and the end of combustion sales that has led us to the decision to focus on electrification for the bus product.
“We have EV chassis in build for our Scania Fencer single-deck product, which will be on display at the NEC show this year, where our customers will be able to see elements of Scania’s bus chassis. The next stage will be our long awaited double-deck chassis, which we will be bringing to market in the near future.”
Södertälje
Looking at the current and future line-up, I asked Mark how the recent Södertälje press event had gone. “Scania do these events very well, not only showing Scania’s touring and urban products but also demonstrating our in-house research and development facilities, demonstrating both our product roadmap, and commitment towards achieving our zero carbon targets for the products we manufacture. On the second day in particular, there was a lot of product on display at our demo centre showing what the next generation bus and coach will look like, plus the opportunity to drive our products. There’s an alignment between coach and bus and what the truck division is doing, such as the Super powertrain that the truck division launched at the end of last year, which will feed into the coach market in due course.
“From a bus perspective, we’ve also been very conscious of choosing the right body partners. That is a key element for us. We are very keen to select partners not just when it comes to producing the product, but also the support structure for aftersales. I came from the aftersales world; you can sell the first vehicle, but after that it’s about how you support it with your body partner. That makes a key difference, and it is sustainability in another form if you have a good long term partner with long term goals.
“When we talk about the coach chassis, it will embrace the applicable advancements from the truck division. There are key advances that we will be including, which will be seen on the new coach chassis. The UK is seen as one of the prime markets for Sweden, demonstrated at the event in Södertälje, through the presence of two right-hand drive products; the new Irizar i6S Efficient, and the Fencer single deck demonstrator.
“In relation to our new Scania Fencer, we went through a series of evaluations with customers, designers and key people who work with bus operators, evaluating their feedback which has produced a single deck product for our customers that is fully supported by the Scania network.”
New generation
“When you look at the diesel coach chassis, we have different body partners who already have the new generation chassis in build. I am pleased to confirm we have a significant number of our new chassis on order and in build. We will be conducting a fuel trial when the demonstrator from the Södertälje event arrives in the UK, and with the advancement in fuel consumption, driveability, customer and driver appeal for the new generation of chassis, we’re confident it will produce an excellent coach, until we reach the next generation powertrains further down the line.”
“At Scania, we are continuing to develop industry leading drivetrains, which are highly efficient. And as we accelerate towards zero-emission products there will be clear advantages both technically and commercially by bringing truck and coach development closer. There will be a synergy across the brand’s products,” he added.
Whereas the internal combustion engine range will continue to develop for the coach business, in terms of electrification Mark explained that Sweden’s continued desire to support the UK market has been further strengthened with strong backing for the development of a double-deck electric chassis alongside the single-deck product.
Scania support
“One thing our customers have told us they like is that if you take a Scania powertrain, it has all-encompassing support through Scania; servicing, support, power supply. The efficiencies we’ve been able to demonstrate with the combustion engine is because it is a Scania control system. We’ve now followed that same methodology with electrification. The battery cells are manufactured by Northvolt and installed into battery packs manufactured by Scania, which include a Scania-developed control module to regulate the battery cells, thermal management, etc. The control system for the Scania motor and gearbox is all controlled by a Scania EV control system. From a driveability, efficiency, diagnostic and repair point of view, it’s all-encompassing.
”We have been criticised as being late to market with electrification. But when you go to Södertälje and see the battery laboratory, which has been developed over a number of years, you can see why we are where we are. One element we picked up on early on is that we don’t want lots of different phases of battery technology on vehicles and fleets which will be in operation for 15 years or more.
“It is exciting times. We are very confident. We will be bringing a single-decker to market towards the end of the year with the fleet version of the Fencer body in ‘group’ specification. While this bus won’t have our Northvolt batteries, the intention is to allow operators the opportunity to experience the efficiency and drivability of the new drivetrain.
With talk of the Higer-manufactured Fencer, I asked whether Mark saw the in-house design as the future direction for Scania’s e-bus range, or whether the body-on-chassis would continue to form a significant part of its offer. “We have been very successful working with a body supplier, and that’s something we want to maintain into the future,” he explained. “Everybody wants to know about the double-deck chassis.
“We have a very good double-deck chassis which people like and which works well on urban and interurban routes, and that is something that we’ll be able to adapt to with the new chassis, with options for axle and gear ratios. We can match the new battery electric chassis to urban, inter-urban and city applications. We already have customers asking us for different body options; we have to respect that operators in the UK market have their chosen bodybuilder. What they’re asking us is ‘can you put the Scania running gear under it?’ That goes for the single-deck, definitely for the double-deck, and also for the coach.”
Electric future
Considering the current split in the market between battery and hydrogen as a power source, I wondered whether Scania sees the latter as an option for the future. “There’s no silver bullet,” Mark said. “It’s got to be the right product for the right environment. What we’ve seen at the moment is that if you look at where we are now, I’d say that in the next five years we’d very much expect local service vehicles to be battery-electric. On the coach side, Scania has been looking at using hydrogen for trucks in Norway, but it’s not something we’re looking at actively for coaches today.”
Turning back to the forthcoming e-bus range, Mark concluded: “We have got very well placed support for the new product. We want to replicate the support we have for the diesel product with the new electrified range. The fact that we can specify both physical and electrical control elements to meet customer demand for city, urban and interurban operation is key for Scania, as is the fact that we are talking to various bodybuilders to find the best product and ongoing support for our customers.”
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