Yutong’s Electric Single

Gareth Evans test drives Yutong’s E12 single-decker bus, which is to enter service in Liverpool in the coming weeks

Yutong’s E12 electric bus made its UK public debut at Euro Bus Expo (EBE) at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham in November 2016.

Displayed in Arriva livery by the Chinese manufacturer’s British Isles distributor, Wakefield Europort-based Pelican Bus & Coach, it made a striking sight despite the notoriously gloomy NEC lighting.

It was a statement of intent [wlm_nonmember][…]

[/wlm_nonmember][wlm_ismember]– that China’s largest bus manufacturer, and the world’s biggest electric bus builder, is serious about entering the UK market with a volume-produced product.

The vehicle’s presence at the show proved to be a talking point – with industry professionals recognising that, along with other manufacturers’ offerings, electric traction will pay a pivotal role in the future of the UK’s urban bus networks.

My first impressions of the E12 were that it looked stylish. The roof-mounted boxes, which house some of the batteries and the air-conditioning system were reminiscent of a quiff. I also liked the headlight clusters – an important detail which gives the bus style. I felt the lights and the sloping indents around them looked like a pair of eyes, giving the bus a face. In a similar vein, the Yutong badge is akin to a nose, and the registration plate indent, the lips.

The interior was nice – with plenty of room and seats. It didn’t look too ‘foreign’ but at the same time, it didn’t pretend to be a British thoroughbred. With little time to give it more than a glance over for some quick photos for CBW’s show review report, I went away with a positive first impression, eager to take it out for a CBW test drive – which took place on Thursday (January 7).

Specification

The 12m-long, 2.55m-wide, 3.34m-high vehicle has an integral aluminium body that seats 35, plus four in tip-ups and has a range enhanced by regenerative braking of around 320km. With air-conditioning and heating – all ancillaries run from the electric drive – that reduces to around 250km.

There are 16 identical lithium iron phosphate battery modules giving a combined output of 295kWh. Each module has 14 cells and nine modules are roof-mounted. The other seven are distributed around the rear of the vehicle, where the 215kW/rpm Yutong M280CV4-H electric drive motor with a peak torque of 2,600Nm and delivering 95% efficiency is located. IP67 water proofed, it’s encapsulated away from road dirt and salt, as well as rain water. The vehicle’s controller is easily accessed under the rear bonnet lid.

The chassis, corrosion protected using electrophoresis coating technology, has a conventional layout that will be familiar to UK operators.

The front axle is a ZF RL82EC with disc brakes and independent suspension while at the rear is a ZF AV132 unit with disc brakes. The air suspension system incorporates Sachs hydraulic double-acting shock absorbers. ZF supplied the ZF8098 steering gear, Michelin the 275/70R22.5 tyres mounted on ALCOA aluminium rims. The vehicle’s unladen weight is around 13.4 tonnes and the maximum number of passengers that can be carried is 80.

The E12 can be charged by using either one of two plug-in chargers. Standard is a 60kW unit that takes five to six hours to recharge. With the 150kW unit, it takes two to two and half hours. Batteries are not allowed to deplete below 12%. After 4,000 charge-discharge cycles, battery capacity is still a useful 80%.

Subject to currency fluctuations, the vehicle is priced at £350,000 including charger. Around £10,000 can be saved by replacing the roof-mounted heating and cooling air-conditioning system with a simple diesel heater. Delivery lead time is the same as for a diesel – four months from order to FOB (Free On Board or point of shipping).

Outside

In addition to boasting kerbside appeal, the E12 benefits from maintenance-friendly, contemporary LED lighting and indicators.

It’s pleasing to report that the body panels appear to have been designed with minimising downtime in mind. In addition to smaller, individual lower skirt panels, vulnerable areas, such as around the light clusters, front and rear pillars and the back bumper are separate components. The hinged panel beneath the single-piece windscreen houses the screenwash bottle.

Another particularly welcome sight for engineers is the wealth of space under the rear bonnet. There are also rear side access panels. The E12 uses contemporary bonded glazing. With the batteries mounted on the roof and under floor, it’s possible to have a glazed rear window.

Interior

It’s striking just how bright and airy the E12’s interior is. Even at the rear, headroom is not in short supply, where there is a glazed roof hatch.

A lot of thought appears to have gone into maximising the seating capacity – something that is sure to be welcomed on busy urban services where the E12 will be put to work.

The main, largely flat saloon floor goes a long way towards to the back. This would appear to be one of the benefits of the E12’s use of a single driver rather hub motors – the back end is akin to a diesel bus.

While the seating is at several different levels and heights, the layout is symmetrical. To access the seats forward of the front wheelarch means going up two steps, which some may feel is cumbersome – although there is no shortage of grabrails.

There are also rear-facing seats to the back of the front wheelarches, which may not find favour with all passengers. A decency screen is fitted to the rear-facing seat on the front nearside wheelarch, and I feel it would be beneficial to do the same on the offside. The fitting of a luggage pen/ shelf over the nearside wheelarch is available as an option. A decency screen provides protection on the foremost nearside seat when the door opens.

Despite appearances to the contrary, the seats themselves are surprisingly comfortable. A welcome touch is that each seat row has access to USB power sockets – a contemporary ‘must have.’ Another contemporary touch is the polished steel finish on the grabrails, which certainly looks smart.

The floor level heaters look ‘different.’ Some may question their need when the bus is equipped with a responsive air-conditioning system.

Seats are fixed to floor with solid legs. This results in awkward areas to clean, which is not helpful to hard-pressed bus depot maintenance staff. Put another way, if the seats were cantilevered from the bodyside or were fixed to the floor using thin legs, the bus could be brushed and mopped out with ease.

There are tip-up seats by the offside emergency exit – and emergency hammers are spread out across the saloon pillars. A single priority bay is provided, with signage prominently denoting its use by wheelchairs and buggies.
The glazed wall to the rear of the cab maybe welcomed by some passengers, offering a view of the road ahead, rather than a wall. However, that means the space is lost for notices, such as service or fare changes or adverts. That said, the coving is the right shape and angle to fit adverts, being a flat surface, which faces down towards passengers’ eyes.

Two monitors hang from the ceiling in the main saloon – one immediately behind the driver, the other by the emergency exit. This allows for the fitment of next stop audio-visual equipment. The internal height of the E12 means the screens feel in no way obtrusive.

Out on the road

Entry to the cab is via a lever on the outside of the door. The door can be locked from the inside using a lever, or from outside with a key – an important consideration for the when the bus maybe parked up unattended at a terminal.

The security shield is integrated into the door, with the front half secured to the dashboard – a small cut out window is provided for drivers to inspect passes and take fares.

The cab door, which is not flimsy and feels like it could withstand the impact of an angry fist, includes a pocket inside, which could provide a home for a ticket roll. However, it is not as spacious as some other buses.

Making myself at home, I found there to be more than ample room to place my bag near my left foot. Room was also not in short supply behind the seat to stow a broom, which of course, is a consideration for a smaller operator, where the driver may be required to clean the bus themselves.

Unusually for a modern bus, the E12 has three pedals. Far from being a clutch (something that of course is not required on an electric bus), the left pedal is purely cosmetic – it’s for the driver to rest their left foot. The centre and right pedal serve as the footbrake and accelerator.

The driver’s seat is comfortable. It can be moved backwards and forwards with ease. The ride height is just right. Not only does it mean the driver sits at eye level with passengers, it also allows the driver to see over cars ahead – an important consideration for forward planning.

The cab windows are pleasantly large, allowing in a welcome amount of natural light. Only the front half of the sliding window opens, which is not an issue. A welcome touch is that there is room for a running board/ duty card to be stowed between the binnacle and cab window.

The handbrake is comfortably located to the left of the driver, on an angled shelf between the seat and cab window. Its position means there is no awkward stretching for the driver.

Air-conditioning and heating controls can be found above the cab window, and on this particular bus, it was also the location of the digital tachograph.

The headlight switch can be found to the upper left of the steering wheel on the binnacle, which is also home to two blowers on the binnacle that can direct air towards the driver.

There is one button for opening and closing – a red button on the right of the binnacle.

The digital display on the binnacle, which gives such information as the status of the vehicle as it warms up, was clear and easy to read. However, I believe the speedometer could have been clearer as the numbers were too small for my liking. In fact, I would prefer a speedo with bold 20, 30, 40 and of course, 50mph.

On the right-hand side of the binnacle are the ‘gear selector’ press buttons, although it may technically be more accurate to refer to them as ‘mode selectors’ – drive, neutral and reverse. A welcome feature is that it’s not possible to go from ‘drive’ to ‘reverse’ without first engaging ‘neutral.’

With the bus having gone through its warm-up routine, and having pressed the relevant buttons, it was almost surreal in that there was total silence. Physiologically for a driver more accustomed to a diesel bus, the lack of noise really can be almost unnerving. I had to glance down at the display to check it was ready to roll – even though I was confident I had pressed the buttons in the correct order.

Having engaged drive and released the handbrake, again there was almost complete silence as we began to move. What was audible for a short time was the compressor. Leaving Pelican’s yard, which is located at Wakefield Europort, we headed towards the M62 junction.

Despite the road surface not being the kindest, the bus rode well, with no notable bangs or vibrations. Stopping smoothly at the lights at the roundabout, it accelerated comfortably up the slip road to join the eastbound carriageway of the M62 at Junction 31.

After leaving the motorway at the next exit – junction 32 – excellent visibility from the windscreen and wing mirrors, coupled with the non-intrusive thin A-pillars helped to a make light work of maintaining lane discipline. We headed south along the A639, providing the opportunity to experience another type of road for the purposes of CBW’s test – a 30mph semi-built-up area, with several exits, lights and reasonable traffic flow. We turned right at the next major roundabout towards Pontefract Racecourse.

Having used them on numerous occasions by now, I found the bleeper for the indicators to be rather loud – and it could be the source of irritation to some drivers and passengers alike, as it can clearly be heard in the main saloon. Personally, I would prefer a less intrusive, gentler ‘peep’ or ‘click.’ After the roundabout, the bus glided over the speed humps, as I drove over them with care – and there was a notable absence of rattles or squeaks.

The road up to the racecourse provides the opportunity to take photos with a decent backdrop, and it also necessitates shunting in order to get the bus into position. As on the open road, the bus could be manoeuvred at low speed with the utmost ease. Reversing the vehicle was straightforward too – I would even go as far as to say it was a pleasure, but that may unintentionally sound rather odd.

Having turned the bus around, I was of course, mindful of tail swing, but such was the visibility from the mirrors, and the fact I had immediately felt comfortable and confident with this vehicle, I did not have to worry.

Retracing our steps along the A639, we headed up the slip road to join the westbound carriageway of the M62. The bus was able to cruise at 50mph naturally. That is to say, travelling at its maximum 80km/h speed didn’t feel it was being ‘thrashed’. The bus handled in an exemplary fashion – it was glued to the road. Indeed, for the test drive as a whole, steering was just nice. No corrective steering was required. It had the comfort of my Ford Focus. For the record, I felt the steering wheel was a good size too.

As we returned to Wakefield Europort, the sun was beginning to set. It was at this point that I noticed what was effectively a blind spot on the offside mirror – the bottom three inches being out of view. Having pulled over to assess it, I found that the sun was shining through the windscreen, bouncing off the glazed window behind the driving seat, and then reflecting onto the offside wing mirror. Road dirt from the windscreen could even be seen in the wing mirror. In my opinion, this relatively minor issue could be dealt with by blanking out the window behind the driving seat. In the meantime, attaching a jacket to the coat hook may provide some degree of mitigation.

Conclusion

The Yutong E12 has much to offer. It’s so quiet; it’s almost unreal at first. The bus rides well – it handles like a car. It’s a joy to drive – with plenty of power, and it’s highly manoeuvrable.

The bus boasts kerbside appeal, an airy interior, comfortable seats and the temperature is maintained by responsive air-conditioning. Body panels have been broken down into easily replaceable parts, helping to minimise downtime. There is also plenty of room for hard-pressed engineers to work in under the bonnet.

However, the indicator bleeper is intrusive, and the seating layout may not be to everyone’s taste. While it is of course, a welcome trade-off for a glazed back window, it does mean that the seating layout, and numerous changes in step height make it harder to clean and that some seats are not as easy to access as they might ideally be. If the choice is to have fewer seats or maintain the status quo, I would prefer the latter, however.

Overall, I cannot pretend I was not impressed by the Yutong E12.[/wlm_ismember]