Next Stop: Ultracapacitor Buses

On October 19, 2009, Tyler Hamilton posted this story on the technologyreview.com website.

My first glance at the article - caught this paragraph at the bottom of the first page - "The ultracapacitor bus is also cheaper than lithium-ion battery buses," says Ye. "We used the Olympics (lithium-ion) bus as a model and found ours about 40 percent less expensive with a far superior reliability rating." Ye adds that the environmental benefits are compelling. "Even if you use the dirtiest coal plant on the planet, it generates a third of the carbon dioxide of diesel when used to charge an ultracapacitor."

Obviously - performance is important, and range is important - but maintenance can be just as important. Reliability of some Hybrid Buses - is about that of the old Diesel buses. On these - "The ones in Shanghai right now have been on the road for three years without incident, without failure whatsoever, which in the bus industry is phenomenal," says Clare, who adds that his company is in talks with New York City, Chicago, and some towns in Florida about trialing the buses. "It will end up being a third generation of the product, which will give 20 miles [of range per charge] or better."

For the complete story - run on over to Technology Review and read the whole thing!