Transit buses may seem an unlikely sector to ever warrant the term “hot,” but a growing number of startups working on next-gen hybrid and electric vehicle technology are looking to buses as a way to weather the downturn and capitalize on shifts in the global economy. With demand for consumer vehicles in the tank, the bus market, buoyed by stimulus funds in the U.S. and a government push for electric buses in China, is one of the more attractive games for clean vehicles in town.
Last summer, we asked Altairnano CEO Terry Copeland what he thought the breakdown of battery maker’s markets would look like in another year. He said he thought “the larger transit vehicles will move along rapidly, probably a little bit ahead of other automotive uses.” Transit agencies, despite tight budgets, and private bus fleet managers can dare to be early adopters because of their predictable demands. “They go out on fixed routes and come back to the same place every night where they can recharge,” Copeland explained. He saw some “really good opportunities” for Altairnano (onetime supplier of the now-bankrupt Phoenix Motorcars) with hybrid buses.
Other companies have also been eying those opportunities, and Copeland was right that the ensuing months would be active ones for the transit tech market. In January, Fisher Coachworks raised $3.2 million to set up manufacturing for a plug-in hybrid bus developed, in part, with Department of Energy funds. The basic technology is not in itself bleeding edge. The innovation comes in the lightweight design (a strategy also employed by fleet vehicle startup Bright Automotive), which Fisher claims can deliver twice the fuel efficiency of hybrid models now on the market.
In February, three-year-old startup Proterra unveiled an all-electric bus prototype equipped with Altairnano batteries and a motor from UQM Technologies. Last month, the Department of Energy awarded a $10 million grant for Navistar Corp. to develop plug-in hybrid school buses. Also in April, San Diego, Calif.-based Maxwell Technologies said it began delivering its BoostCap ultracapacitor under a $13.5 million supply agreement with three Chinese transit bus makers, XConomy reported.
Two weeks ago, two-year-old Adura Systems pulled back the curtains on ambitious plans to sell low-cost modular series hybrid powertrains for buses in China, and eventually license the technology to major automakers for cars and trucks on the U.S. market. Even fuel cell buses are inching ahead, with Hydrogenics announcing today that Gladbeck, Germany’s fuel cell hybrid bus pilot project has rolled out two more of the company’s fuel cell-powered hybrid “midibuses,” bringing the total to 10. These deals and launches have been in the works for years, and there are likely more in the pipeline as cities and states begin to dole out stimulus-funded grants.
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